


Sins of the Past

by Shadowcatgirl09



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, This fic is the result of a lovely convo between a talented BK writer and myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcatgirl09/pseuds/Shadowcatgirl09
Summary: Post Season 8 AU: While in the midst of her travels Abby contacts Bonnie saying she needs to tell her something important and it can only be said in person. Together they travel to Alaric’s new school for the magically gifted so Abby can introduce her to a young woman. A young woman whom Abby kept secret from Bonnie for more than 20 years.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually my very first fic but I was lazy and so I'm just now uploading it on here. Since this fic actually predates Legacies by a year certain things don't coincide with it.

Clouds pass by slowly as the plane cruises through the skies over the island of Puerto Rico. Bonnie sits in her seat by the window reading a book. She was returning to Mystic Falls after getting a phone call from Abby saying it was important and she needed to talk in person. Bonnie was pretty apprehensive due to the fact it has been a little over two years since she has been back there.

Stefan was dead, Damon and Elena are in Germany, Caroline was in NOLA, Matt was still the sheriff, Alaric had the girls and opened up a magic institute with Jeremy working there as well. Bonnie spent most of her time traveling, meeting new covens, relief work and just enjoying herself. She'd been in contact with her mother ever since Enzo passed and has been steadily building a somewhat decent mother-daughter relationship.

“ _So what was so urgent that Abby couldn't just tell her over the phone? Was she in trouble? No, Abby could handle herself...unless it was something magic related?_ ” Bonnie just shrugged and went back to her book, she would figure it out when she got there.

Before she knew it, she had to brace herself for the plane landing at the Lynchburg airport. After gathering all of her luggage she hailed a taxi. She told him to head to Mystic Falls, while on the ride back she called Abby.

She picked up on the second ring. "Ah, Bonnie, I'm glad you called. I want you to meet me at the institute."

Bonnie sighed. "Can I at least drop my things off first?" There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "Okay, but be quick." She hung up. Bonnie looked at her phone quizzically before putting it back in her purse.

She arrived at her house, the taxi driver helped her carry her things to her door. She gave him a 50 dollar tip along with the fare. As soon as he pulled off, she looked around to make sure no one was watching and waved her hand to make all her stuff disappear into the house. She waved her hand again and her car keys appeared in them. It only took 15 minutes to get to the Institute, she was in awe of the place. The last time she was here, Caroline was showing Alaric the check Klaus had sent so he could get started. He slightly modeled it after the Xavier Institute, she guessed it was to make the kids feel more accepting of the place.

Bonnie could feel the magic of this place pulse through her. It was kind of overwhelming to be honest, she wasn't used to this much magic being around without trouble lurking in the shadows. She spotted her mother standing at the front entrance, taking to a lady - or more like arguing. She parked her car and walked over to them.

"Hey mom," she casually looked over at the lady. "Hello."

The lady's russet colored eyes narrowed in on Bonnie before speaking. "Hello, is she with you?" Glancing over at Abby and back, Bonnie nodded her head. The lady's eyes soften now. "I'm sorry, I'm Tiffany, I'm one of the admins here. For safety purposes, we don't invites vampires in."

Bonnie sucked in a breath. "You do know the founder of this school is friends with vampires right?"

Tiffany stood ramrod straight. "I'm only allowed to let Damon in and she doesn't look like him."

Bonnie looked annoyed now. "Tell Alaric Bonnie's here then."

Tiffany's eyes widened just then. "Oh my! You're THE Bonnie Bennett!? I...It's...I'm so, so sorry! Please come in!"

Bonnie nodded her head in her mother's direction. Tiffany's posture relaxed completely. "If she's with you, it's fine. Please follow me to the office."

They followed behind Tiffany as she lead them to main office. "I've heard so many stories about you, Bonnie. You destroyed Hell, defeated Klaus, created another dimension. Your feats are legendary, Ms. Bennett."

Abby looked proud of her daughter while said daughter was shifting uncomfortably in her navy blue cardigan sweater before speaking. "The woman you wouldn't let in desiccated Mikael."

Tiffany abruptly stopped and quickly spun around facing them. "What!?" She practically screeched the word out. "She's a Bennett?! But she's a vampire! Oh...I am so sorry you had to go through that. No witch should ever go through that."

Both Bonnie and Abby eyed her coolly.

"Oh, my brother was turned into one, but died some years back. Anyway...if you'll continue following me." She turned back around and continued walking; they arrived at a set of double doors. She opened one and gestured them inside. She sat down at a desk in the left hand corner. "Now, what can I help you ladies with?"

Abby looked rather uneasy now. She looked hastily looked at Bonnie before looking back at Tiffany. "Give us a moment, please."

* * *

Bonnie looked lost as Abby grabbed her arm pulling out of the office. "Cast a spell so no one will hear us." She muttered the words rather quickly.

Bonnie, still confused, did the chant. She pulled her arm out of her mother's grasp. "Start talking." She said through gritted teeth. "You said you had something important to tell me."

Abby straightened up. "There's a young woman I want you to meet. Hopefully, she's still here." Bonnie just stared at her now. "What? Is she a student or teacher? Why is she so important?"

Abby looked down guilty. "When you meet her, you'll understand." Her mother turned and walked back into the office.

Bonnie walked in a few seconds later.

Abby spoke to Tiffany then, "I need to see a teacher that works here by the name of Alisha Warren."

Tiffany nodded and picked up her desk phone, "Yes, hi Ali, you're needed in the office." She put the phone back on the hook. "She said she'll be a few minutes, she's wrapping up her class."

A minute or two passed with Abby incessantly glancing at Bonnie nervously. She was starting to get fed up with her mother now. "Would you just tell me what's going...on." Bonnie stopped mid-sentence because she felt a presence coming near the office. "Mom, why do I feel...?"

Just then one of the doors opened revealing a young woman roughly the same height as her with caramel skin and curly black hair. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt and baggy camouflage cargo pants. The woman's head turned sharply in her direction, moss green eyes connecting with malachite green ones.  

Alisha immediately froze before her eyes connected with Abby's and softened. "Hi, Mrs. Wilson." She paused before speaking a bit quieter. "You're a vampire now. You weren't one the last time I saw you though."

Bonnie's eyes hastily bounced between her mother and Alisha's. If Abby could sweat her hair would be sticking to her skin right about now. She got up, ushering Bonnie and Alisha out the door. Abby looked at Alisha. "Is there some place where we can talk privately?"

Alisha nodded her head. "Yeah, my classroom is empty right now since classes are over for the day."

While dipping and dodging the children running in the halls, Bonnie was staring rather intently at the back of Alisha's head. She felt off, she had the same feeling she had when she met Lucy for the first time, but something felt different too. They walked up a flight of stairs before making a right turn and stopping in front of a classroom.

She turned to them with a smile on her face. "Well here we are." She opened the door and went inside. "Pick any seat you want."

Abby let out a shaky breath. "It would probably be better if we all stood for this. Bonnie cast that spell again."

Bonnie chanted it again.

Abby took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. "Alisha, you grew up so beautifully and from what I can tell you have better control of your magic. Your adopted parents have taught you well."

Alisha looked baffled now. "Thank you, Mrs. Wilson-wait my adopted parents? No, I think you're mistaken."

Abby sighed and turned to Bonnie. "Bonnie please tell me you feel it. That shared feeling of magic between family members."

Both women gasped and looked at each other. Alisha started shaking her head frantically. "No, no, no, no, no, that's not possible, sure my birth parents are witches...but I'm not..." She collapsed into her chair her head in her hands. She started mumbling. "You would visit my house, speaking with my parents in hushed tones." She looked up now. "I always just thought something was off when I was around you because there's something wrong with my magic. But that's not the case is it? What am I to you?"

Abby looked ashamed before setting her eyes resolutely on Alisha. "I'm your biological mother."

Alisha gawked at her.

Bonnie finally spoke up after absorbing all the info spread out just now. "When did you manage to have her? Before or after you dealt with Mikael?"

Abby connected eyes with her first born. "After, I was 4 months pregnant with her at the time I went after him. That's why her magic's tainted, it's mixed with dark magic. I had her a month after I recovered from desiccating Mikael. Since I couldn't really carry around a newborn baby I got in contact with some old witch acquaintances and gave her to them. I didn't want her involved in my drama."

Bonnie just glared at her then.

Alisha got out of her chair, lashing out at Abby now. "So I was just some burden to you?! All those times you came to visit me and said nothing! Why couldn't you just tell me?!"

Abby had the audacity to look hurt. "It's like I said, I didn't want you involved in my drama, you were much to young. Please try to understand."

She reached out a hand to grab Alisha but the young woman side-stepped her. "Don't you dare touch me! You could've told me this sooner, but I guess your little mundane family was more important though, right?" She grew eerily quiet before speaking again. "Is it because I'm tainted with dark magic? You thought I would bring trouble to your home if you brought me there?"

Abby's eyes widened. "No! That wasn't it at all! Alisha please-"

She cut her off. "No! You don't get to use that excuse anymore! Your life was absolutely fine without me in it! You lived right near me in bliss with your family knowing your biological child wasn't that far away from you!"

Abby looked down, eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry. I thought you would be better off without me."

Alisha glared at her. "Sorry won't cut it. I hate you." She looked at Bonnie and her eyes filled with tears before she ran out of the room. On her way out of the room, she accidentally bumped into Jeremy. "Oh, I'm sorry, Jeremy." He didn't even manage to get a word in edgewise before she was around the corner out of his sight.

Bonnie continued to give Abby a death glare. "So just to make sure I'm getting this right, all this time I had a younger sister that you decided I shouldn't know about? A sister that lived right near you, another grandchild Grams could've-could have learned about, another child dad-" Bonnie choked on her words, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Abby tried to gently take her hands, but she put them in her cardigan pockets. "Bonnie listen I couldn't have her find out about you. She would've wanted to meet you and then she would've gotten caught up in the Salvatore's mess and I refused to let that happen. How many times did you risk your life for those people? Think about all the pain and suffering they put you through, the literal hell you went through for them. Would you have wanted that to happen to your sister too?"

Bonnie looked offended now. "Those people were there for me when you weren't. They're my friends."

It was Abby's turn for her eyes to narrow. "The same friends that put their relationship problems above you? The same friends that gave maybe 25 percent, 45 if they really needed your magic while you gave them nothing but your full loyalty? Loyalty they didn't deserve. Those same friends?"

If looks could kill Abby would be dead at that moment. “Well, maybe if you had stuck around instead of shacking up with some guy and his son playing mom that could have been avoided.” Bonnie swiftly left the room leaving Abby to wallow in the mess she made by herself.

Leaving the classroom she bumped into Jeremy. A smile formed on her face upon seeing her ex. "Hey Jer, it's been a while."

He smiled back at her. "Yeah it has, hasn't it? We should catch up sometime."

"We really should do that." Bonnie shifted uncomfortably now, "Um, did Alisha run pass here by any chance?"

Jeremy looked confused now. "Yeah, and she was crying too. Never seen her get like that before. What's going on Bon?"

"Which way did she go? I need to know Jer." She looked slightly antsy now.

"Uh, she went out the front doors, probably headed to the teachers' quarters. I'm not busy I can show you how to get there." Jeremy said while peering at Bonnie worriedly now.

"Oh, I - uh - no I got it. I'll see you later." She darted off in the direction of the front doors.

"Okay." Jeremy just scratched his head and quickly peered in the classroom. He saw Abby sitting there with her head in her hands and suddenly understood everything. He'll wait for Bonnie to tell him everything on her own terms.

* * *

After getting outside, Bonnie closed her eyes and concentrated on finding Alisha's magic. It wasn't easy with so many magic users around. Where did Alaric find all of these people? With the mess Damon and Stefan brought with them to Mystic Falls she half expected most of the supernatural people to be dead. Or they probably went into hiding, not that she could blame them.

Bonnie's eyes shot open. "Ah-ha! Found you!" When she finally located her magic it was...weird. It was kind of hard to explain. She tracked her down at her little apartment on the west side of the institute.

All she had to do was drop her name and the security just let her in, she headed straight for the second floor. When she arrived to Alisha's floor she rounded the corner near her apartment, she saw that her door was ajar.

A young male voice rang out. "Um Ms. Warren is it cool if I come to you for private lessons with my magic?"

It was quiet for a moment before she heard Alisha speak. "Sure thing Kyle, but I better not catch you acting up in my class again, understood?"

"I won't Miss Warren, I promise. See you later." The door opened and a blonde curly haired child stepped out.

When her eyes connected with his Bonnie's breath hitched, the boy could almost pass for a kid version of Kai. When he tilted his head in question Bonnie's heart started beating rapidly. " _Could Kai have...with some random girl? No just no, not Kai, that was the least of his priorities. Not to mention this kid would have to be younger._ " She was so busy having an internal dilemma that she didn't hear the kid speak. "Huh?" She was startled out of her stupor by the sound of his voice.

"I said hi are you here to see Miss Warren too." He had a frown on his face now.

Bonnie pulled herself together. "Oh, sorry about that." She tried to smile, but since she was still a little creeped out, it came out rather forced. "Yes I am, I'm here to talk to her about something really important." She could hear Alisha snort in response in the apartment.

"Oh, okay then. Bye!" He gave a huge toothy grin before running off towards the stairs.

Bonnie took several deep breaths before she stepped into her sister's apartment. She casually leaned on the door frame. "We need to talk."

Alisha's jaw clenches and she just stares at Bonnie. She adjusted herself on her couch. "Well, I'm waiting."

Bonnie cleared her throat, walked in and made herself comfortable in a chaise lounge chair across from Alisha. "I..uh...Alright let me start over. Alisha, how much do you know about Ab - I mean Mrs. Wilson?"

Alisha's faced scrunched up while in thought and then relaxed. "She lived down the street from my parents and would often visit, claiming to be a friend of theirs. I would sometimes overhear them talking in the den about how my powers were developing and if I was having any sudden changes." Her eyes were cast downward now. "My tainted magic made my other family members - sorry adopted family - look at me funny."

Bonnie had her hands clasped in her lap. "Alisha Mrs. Wilson's name is hyphenated, it's actually Abby Bennett-Wilson."

Alisha's head shot up, "Wait a minute she's a Bennett? But she's doesn't have her magic anymore. She's a vampire now." She looked confused. "Who turned her?"

Bonnie took a deep breath before responding. "My friend had turned her. It was necessary and complicated." Bonnie stared directly at Alisha now.

She had an unreadable expression on her face and in a monotone voice said. "Go on."

"We're the only ones of the bloodline left that I know of, that still have magic anyway." Bonnie looked slightly ashamed.

Alisha's eyes narrowed, "What happened to everyone else? Were they...turned or..." She swallowed a lump in her throat in fear of the inevitable. "They were killed weren't they? By mostly vampires or something related to them right?"

Bonnie just nodded her head solemnly.

Alisha pursed her lips. "Hmph, so my parents were right about vampires ruining people's lives." Her voice was laced with venom.

Bonnie wanted to dispute that but realized she had a point. If Stefan and Damon hadn't shown up in Mystic Falls, she and her friends would probably be living normal lives. So many people would still be alive. Tyler, Grams, and her dad. Unfortunately the Bennetts always get tangled up with vampires whether they wanted to or not.

The apartment was washed in an uncomfortable silence before Alisha spoke up again. "Okay I need to start hearing some good things, sooo, tell me about the Bennett family!"

Bonnie's head almost snapped from the whiplash, Alisha's sudden mood change caught her off guard. She cleared her throat. "Well we Bennetts are one of the most powerful bloodlines in history. We're descendants of Salem witches." She paused, a smile starting stretch from ear to ear. It felt good to talk about her family origins with another witch, another family member. "Obviously we escaped and settled in Mystic Falls."

Alisha's eyes were lit up. "Witches founded Mystic Falls!? Ooh what else?!" She was practically bouncing in her seat. "The older members, ancestors, did you manage to meet any of them? Were we a large coven?"

Bonnie let out a light laugh. "Yes I've met two, Qetsiyah and Emily." But then her smile dimmed, "Both meetings weren't exactly pleasant." She exhaled a breath to calm herself.

Alisha's smile faded immediately after hearing those words. "I'm-I'm so sorry. Was there ever a time you actually had happiness with the family?" She looked at Bonnie expectantly now.

Bonnie laughed bitterly, "I wish. Grams being alive was the last time I felt safe and happy. Abby left when I was 6, my dad was always at work, so it was just me and Grams and then she-" She sat up straight blinking back tears. "I found Abby again needing her help to defeat Klaus but a whole bunch of other stuff happened and you know the rest. There was also a cousin, Lucy, but she was killed a few years back as well."

Alisha's face was blank, before her mouth turned downward with a frown. "Wait you said Abby left you? She's your-" She took a deep breath and gripped her knees tightly. "I thought she was-” She hunched over, “I'm your-your-" Her body shook, wracked with sobs.

Bonnie had fresh tears in her eyes now. "Sister. I'm your older sister. That's what Abby wanted to say before you left the classroom." She was trying her best to blink back her tears again while Alisha's just flowed freely now. "Alisha..." She said softly as she stood up and walked over. Alisha met her halfway practically flying into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably now. Bonnie held her tightly and finally let her tears fall. "I wish I had met you sooner."

A few minutes passed while they just held each other. Alisha pulled herself together she wiping the tears off her face and pulled away from Bonnie. She sniffled a little and then chuckled. "I'm taller than you."

Bonnie leaned back a little. "I-" She stopped speaking and took it all in, she really was shorter than her younger sister. She laughed. "Only by an inch." She actually had a younger sister, Bonnie was sort of grateful Abby hadn't introduced them, she couldn't picture her involved in her friends adventures.

Alisha pulled Bonnie back towards the couch and they both sat down. "You know even though my family always treated me as they own child I never really felt like I belonged, now I know why."

Bonnie gently grabbed her hands and gave her a soft smile. "I want to know everything."

Alisha nodded her head enthusiastically and began talking. Outside the apartment door Abby smiled ruefully to herself and walked away.

* * *

The moon shines brightly in the sky, high heels click clack along the pavement and then into an abandoned warehouse. Sounds of bone-crunching could be heard echoing throughout the place. "Ugh make sure you wash your mouth out when you're done, I don't want to smell whatever that was you just ate." A woman sat down on a crate looking at her rose quartz colored nails.

A crocodile hunches in an impossible way before slowly transforming into a human man. He gets up cleaning out his teeth with his nails. "Did you get the kid to do it?"

Her delicate face scrunched up in disgust before speaking, "Yeah he did what was necessary and then was disposed of. They're in Virginia, a town called Mystic Falls." She reached into her pants pocket and threw the man a small toothbrush kit along with a small bottle of water. "I am not trying to smell that stench in the car." Her eyes travelled over the length of his body sizing up every little detail before resting on his face. "As...delectable..." She licked her lips, "as you look I need you to be dressed by the time I pull up with the car. You know what's going to happen if you don't right?" Her voice had suddenly turned cold.

He felt chilled to the bone. "I will be ready Ness." He quickly walked off to get dressed and wash his mouth out. A few minutes later he heard the tires on the gravel and rushed outside. He practically ran to the car.

She looked over at him with a smile on her face. "I love when you follow orders little Gideon." She said it in that creepy singsong voice that reminded him of his mother while patting his head. "Now on to Mystic Falls."

* * *

On this warm Saturday afternoon Bonnie was sitting in a cafe on the campus, waiting for Alisha to arrive after teaching her class. " _Who would've thought there would be another teacher in the family?_ " While Bonnie was thinking to herself she heard footsteps rapidly approaching followed by the sound heavy breathing. She casually sipped on her mango slushie.

Alisha was panting with her hands on her knees. "I'm...sorry...I'm...late..." She plopped down in the chair in the most ungraceful manner possible still trying to catch her breath. "I...didn't...want...to...keep...you."

Bonnie smiled behind her drink, and then put it down. "I was here for maybe 5 minutes, so you're fine." Since the reveal of having a little sister the two have been inseparable for the past week. "Seems like you need to work out more." She outright laughed now.

Alisha gave her a mocked glare. "Haha real funny, I get enough exercise dealing with my kids thank you very much. Since they're mostly magic users and all around supernatural I don't get normal kid problems, oh no, I have to change kids back from being turned into frogs or some other type of creature. They want to learn how to make love potions and turn invisible so they can cause mischief, like setting people's butts on fire. If I get asked do I have a boyfriend one more damn time or, my all time favorite, do you like someone in the school I'm going to go insane."

Bonnie just laughed harder.

She dropped her head on the table. "Stop it's not funny."

Bonnie crossed her legs, the back of her wedge ankle boot hitting the chair lightly. "What's your summer plans?"

"I wanted it to be me, before you showed up anyway, getting as far away from the kids as possible. But now I planned on taking the little witchlings and warlocks, the boys says it sounds cooler than saying witch," She rolled her eyes, "to visit another coven during summer solstice." She propped her head in her hand now. "Do you-"

Bonnie spoke before she could even finish. "Of course I'll go with you! That's what I've been doing these past few years myself besides relief work." She replied with a smile.

Alisha's eyes lit up. "Yes!" She said it a bit to loudly causing a few people to look at them. She slouched in her seat and spoke more quietly. "We're going to Greece, specifically Patras."

"Ah I haven't been to that part. I'll have my things ready by the 18th." She laughed lightly. "Then maybe after we bring the kids back we could go to Italy or something?"

"I would love that." Alisha said grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

A car pulled up in front of the school. Gideon looked around in wonder, so much had changed since he had last been in Virginia. Schools didn't look like this back then, not that he would've been allowed in anyway. He casually turned to face Ness. "Um...since we already scouted out the area do we wait or..."

"We go in now. I want him." Her words were clipped.

"Well I am going to need you to do what you do so I can get in." He got out of the car and started stripping off his clothes.

Ness got out and walked up to the magic barrier set around the school, it dissipated immediately. She looked back at Gideon and smirked. "It's all yours little Gideon."

He handed her his clothes, crouched on all fours and began to transform.

* * *

Alisha felt a chill go up her spine. She sat up straight, brows furrowed in concentration. "Something's wrong, the barrier's gone, the barrier is to never be removed." Suddenly the ground started to shake and people started screaming. Bonnie and Alisha both crouched down on floor of the cafe. When they both looked up, out the cafe windows, they saw an elephant charging towards the school with a pale skinned woman on top of it.

Bonnie thought she had possibly experienced everything in life, to say this stunned her was an understatement. "We have to get to the school!"

Alisha looked down. "Can you actually run in those things?" She was referring to Bonnie’s wedge boots.

"Yes I can!" And to prove her point she took off running towards the school with Alisha right behind her.

By the time they arrived the elephant had already took down the front half of the school and was gone. In it's place was the woman holding an arrow in her hand and a half naked olive skinned man. Jeremy was facing them, crossbow in hand while Tiffany was trying to get the children to calm down and out a side door. Bodies were scattered everywhere, some teachers, others students. None of them were moving.

The woman's hazel eyes narrowed to slits. "Move aside boy. You don't want end up like the rest of this trash lying around do you?" She spoke with a thick eastern European accent. With a sinister smile on her face she casually took a step forward and Jeremy fired off a shot. She sidestepped it as if it was nothing.

Bonnie was already chanting, power flowed out and a rush of fire aimed towards the woman rang out before vanishing into thin air. Her eyes widened in shock. "Seriously?! Don't tell me there's more siphoners out there!"

Alisha looked lost now. "Siphoners?"

"Siphoners, they're rare witches that can absorb magic. They're a Gemini Coven exclusive." She spoke through gritted teeth. " _But I don't remember their powers working like that._ " Bonnie and Alisha slowly made their way over to Jeremy's right side while carefully eyeing the two intruders.

The man's dark eyes flashed in anger at the mention of the coven. "You know of them?" His question directed at Bonnie.

She eyed him and chose her words carefully. "I knew of them, but they're no longer around." Bonnie stood at full height, chin jutted out, arms crossed over her chest. "If that's the reason you're here then you're a few years too late."

He smirked now, "Oh I know. I would not be free otherwise." His tone completely condescending.

Bonnie's jaw clenched and Alisha looked beyond lost now. "Bon?" Bonnie gave her a look that said they'll discuss it later.

The woman stuffed her hands in her pants pockets, a face of complete annoyance. "Carlos come we're leaving. He isn't here, we no longer have a reason to be at this establishment."

He looked at her questioningly, "But Ness I thought-"

In the blink of an eye Ness' arm swung out, arrow in hand, and straight into Carlos' stomach. He doubled over in pain. She hissed out the words. "When I tell you we're leaving you don't question me, understand?"

He made a grunt of agreement.

She pulled the arrow out slowly and let it drop to the floor. "Good now that we got that out the way. Let's go." She turned slightly to face Bonnie and co, "Oh I wouldn't try anything if I were you, I did my research and made sure to plan ahead in case anyone tried to get in my way." She wore a smile of pure confidence. She turned back around and dragged Carlos outside towards a grey car. They got in and drove off.

* * *

Alisha looked around carefully making sure there was no more threats in the area. Afterwards she sat down on a pile of rubble, albeit uncomfortably. "Everyone okay?" There was a slight tremble in her voice.

Jeremy spoke up first. "Yeah I'm good." He paused. "What in the hell was that? First they attack the school which brings up the question of why is there a shapeshifter among us in the first place? I thought they were wiped out. Then now apparently there's more siphoners out there too."

Bonnie put her head in her hands while leaning against the somewhat still intact front desk. "I'm more focused on what Carlos said, he said that he wouldn't be free if the Gemini were still around. That means he was locked in a prison world before." It came out rather muffled.

Jeremy's lips pursed. Alisha looked between both of them. "Somebody gonna explain this to me? I like super lost right now."

Bonnie took a deep breath before speaking. "Okay so the Gemini were a dysfunctional coven that my friends and I came in contact with a few years ago." Alisha went to raise her hand but Bonnie gave her a pointed look. "Save the questions for when I'm done with the story." Alisha put her hand down immediately.

"So I'm not going into details since I told you majority of this stuff but they came to Mystic Falls to deal with the Travellers, then some other stuff happened I became the Anchor and ended up in a prison world with Damon." Her jaw clenched, "There we met Kai Parker, a sociopath, who would later become the Coven leader. He would, as his last act of revenge, kill his sister and then himself there for wiping out the Gemini Coven."

Alisha leaned back taking everything in. "So if I'm getting this right that Carlos guy, which I doubt is his real name, was locked in there for presumably doing something terrible was later freed due to the Kai guy killing himself?"

Bonnie's eyes hardened, "Well not exactly...if I remember correctly if the leader dies the prison world wouldn't exist anymore. He would need to have help getting out of there. And the Other Side doesn't exist anymore either." She mutter the last part more so to herself.

"So you're saying there's probably a rogue witch running around helping those two? Well that's definitely not good." She suddenly leaned forward. "Okay I know how we can deal with the shapeshifter but our main problem is the woman, I think he said her name was Ness, y'all said she was a siphoner? How exactly do we deal with that?" She pounded her fist in her hand. "Wait when you mean siphoner you mean what Alaric's twins are? I could've probably figured it out sooner but there was too much going on. Funny I always called them spongers though.”

Bonnie's face scrunched up. "Hold up there's a way to defeat a shapeshifter?" She said incredulously. "I didn't know they existed until today. How do we even go about doing that?"

Jeremy and Alisha exchanged looks, with Jeremy talking now. "Well there's two ways actually, the first is to learn the shapeshifter's name then you can either kill them via beheading or take control of them. The second is long and tedious as hell which is you have to kill every form it transforms into with something made of pure platinum."

Bonnie crossed her arms over her chest and started pacing back and forth, thinking to herself, " _If she's some type of siphoner I could always just get Kai..._ " Her eyes darkened. "No, no, no, that's out of the question." She looked ready to pull her hair out.

"Bonnie?" Alisha said sounding concerned. "What's out of the question?"

Said woman spun around abruptly. "I said that out loud!?"

Alisha's eyebrows were raised. "Yeah."

She started biting her bottom lip before letting out a frustrated sigh. Jeremy walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay Bon?"

She shook her head, "No I'm not because the only other solution we could possibly have to deal with her is someone I don't want to see ever again."

Alisha hopped up, "Okay so if we have the solution what's the problem? Is the person that bad?"

Bonnie turned to face her. "Yes he is. And I would prefer it if he stays locked up rather than to rely on him."

Jeremy's hand dropped from Bonnie's shoulder and Alisha looked between them worried now. "Jer? Bon?"

Bonnie's nostrils flared. "Our  _solution_  to dealing with Ness would be Kai."

Alisha put her hand up in a stop motion. "Pause, I thought you said he died." She was bewildered now.

Bonnie's lips pursed. "Well he did die but then he became a heretic, a witch/vampire hybrid, then Damon killed him but when hell was opened up he got out and I trapped him in a special made prison world."

"How in the hell does that work? The moment he became a vampire he should've been cut off from nature - oh my god - it's because he was already abnormal to begin with! Holy cow that is both awesome and disturbing. So when are we getting him out?" She looked expectant now bouncing on the heels of her feet.

Jeremy looked appalled, "Alisha you can't be serious! He's a monster! He killed children, who were his brothers and sisters by the way, not to mention his entire coven!" He yelled.

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't see you coming up with anything! That Ness chick dodged your arrows like they were nothing and somehow repels magic. If she's some type of siphoner we should get another one to defeat her! Unless you want to use Alaric's twins?" They glared at each other.

"Look I just think he should be our last resort." He looked defeated now.

"Alright listen up you two here's how we go about this." Bonnie's hands were on her hips. "I don't want to do this either but we really don't have a choice in the matter. I'm going into the prison world to get Kai, knowing him I'm going to have to strike some type of deal with him." Jeremy and Alisha went to protest but Bonnie shut them both down with one look. "When I bring him back we have to make sure he's closely monitored, he has a habit of using cloaking spells. He also has a gift for gab," As she said this she looked over at Alisha. "Don't fall for his charms."

Alisha nodded her head. "Okay."

With her eyes never leaving Alisha's she spoke to Jeremy. "Jer I want you to stay here with the kids; Don't argue with me on this. Alaric's going to need your help with the students. Alisha you're coming with me. We need to get some blood bags and the ascendant." Her voice demanded that this was absolute.

Jeremy sighed in defeat. "Alright, please be careful you two."

Alisha smiled, "Will do. You ready Bonnie?"

Bonnie steeled her resolve. "Yeah let's go. The quicker we get this done the better." They walked to the parking lot and headed for Bonnie's car.

* * *

It took a few minutes because they had to stop by a hospital for the blood bags but they arrived at Bonnie's house. The entire car ride Bonnie taught Alisha the spells for getting to and from the prison world. Bonnie used magic to open her door stalking quickly into the den, opening the draw door of the end table to pull out the ascendant. "Ali are ready for this?" Bonnie asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She looked down at the contraption. "So this is an ascendant huh?"

"Hmmhmm, I personally made this one. They normally look like the pieces of a clock thrown together." She pulled out a knife and made a cut in her hand.

Bonnie closed her eyes with Alisha following behind her and they both began to chant. When they opened their eyes they were in front of a karaoke bar. Alisha looked around, "You know I expected this place to look a bit different. Not a replica of outside world." She said in wonder.

Bonnie smirked. "I admit I do come here sometimes get free clothes and stuff."

Alisha feigned surprise. "Oh my that's soo naughty! I would have never took you for that type."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "It was something I got used to doing when I was stuck in the prison world back then."

Alisha smiled brightly at Bonnie. "Sweet! I wanna try out whatever outfits you bought when we get back. Or hey maybe I should grab some things myself."

Bonnie eyes widened. "I should have never told you that, I'm already being a bad influence for my younger sister." She shook her head smiling and began walking toward through the entrance. As soon as she got inside she felt something was wrong, the spin doctors weren't playing for one. She rushed ahead and saw that Kai was still in the chair but his chains were on the floor. She snarled, he even had on a change of clothes too.

Alisha ran in. "Warn somebody next time would you?" She looked over Bonnie's shoulder. "That's him?"

Bonnie nodded grimly.

Alisha walked behind the mini bar and handed Bonnie a straw and cup, while grabbing two more cups. Bonnie quirked an eyebrow while Alisha casually grabbed a bottle of pineapple ciroc and some juice. Alisha looked up from her musings. "What? We both obviously need a drink after what happened earlier and what we're about to do now. You just go give him the blood in the cup or do you want me to do it?"

She shook her head, "Nope I got it." After she poured the blood into the cup she walked over to Kai and splashed the blood on his face. It took a few minutes but Kai started slowly responding. As the blood seeped into his mouth his color began to return to normal. His tongue leisurely slid out to lick the blood it could reach. She threw more on his face and he licked up what he could of that too. She tsked, "Hmph I should've brought him some rats or mice instead so I could watch his desperation." She refilled the cup to a little less than half and put it in between his legs in the chair.

Alisha just stared mesmerized, this was her first time seeing both a dessicated vampire and watching it come back from being that way as well. She walked back around the other side of the bar and handed Bonnie her drink. "Don't worry I only put an inch of the stuff in there and mixed it with punch."

"Thanks." Bonnie accepted it and sipped gingerly while still keeping an eye on Kai.

Kai finished the cup and let it fall to the floor. Bonnie moved a little closer putting her hands on her hips somewhat blocking Alisha from Kai's sight. His eyes adjusted to his surroundings before finally settling on Bonnie; He looked her over rather appreciatively, from her neatly pinned up hair with a few strands sticking out, to the emerald green handkerchief halter top and black tights, to her black wedge ankle boots. He licked his lips, cleared his throat and with a smirk on his face said, "It's been a while  _Bonster_."


	2. Chapter 2

Bonnie shifted uncomfortably under Kai's not-so-subtle ogling of her. She took a nice, deep breath and then slowly exhaled before walking directly up to Kai. "I need a favor." It took everything in Bonnie to get those words out. She pursed her lips at his facial expression. **  
**

Kai couldn't hold it back any longer, he let out a condescending laugh. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought I heard you say you need a favor. You've definitely gotten better with your jokes that's for sure." His eyes danced with mischief, "The last time you came here I learned you can be - what's the word for it - ah right, domineering and oh-so-vicious when you need to be. Though it wasn't all bad, especially when you-" Bonnie gave him an aneurysm.

Her face was twisted with rage. "Shut. Up. Kai." She spoke the words with a deadly calm.

Alisha, who was peeking her head out from behind the mini bar, was beyond bewildered. Sure, they've gotten to know each other over the past week, but seeing her sister's reaction to Kai was something to behold. She didn't even respond to those two intruders like she's doing with him. Whatever happened between these two was - no,  _is_  - extremely intimate.

Kai adjusted himself in the chair, smirk still on his face. "So, seeing as you need my help for whatever reason, I'm assuming your oh-so-reliable friends aren't around?"

Alisha snorted and then muttered to herself, "Yeah right, they would make it worse somehow."

Kai laughed and said, "I know right? I wouldn't be shocked if they're just sitting back and expecting her to do all the work as usual." He looked over at Alisha. "Sorry, I didn't notice you there, excuse my manners, I'm Kai." He gave her his signature finger wave.

She waved back awkwardly. "Alisha."

Bonnie turned to glare at Alisha, who put her hands up in surrender, before turning back to Kai. "I specifically need your power. Look I'll...let you out...permanently...if you agree to this."

He sat there staring blankly for a minute and then his eyes became half-lidded. "So, what's the catch? What do I get out of this besides my freedom?"

Bonnie looked like she wanted to kill him. "You get your freedom. What more could you want?" she said through clenched teeth.

Kai stood up causing Bonnie to take a few steps back. He kept walking until her back hit the bar. "I had something else in mind." He stepped closer so now their chest were practically touching. The look she gave him reminded him of when he told her to focus and block out Damon's crap. Of course, she quickly masked it again with anger. A smile slowly etched onto his face and he leaned closer, his lips slightly brushing against her ear, and whispered. "I'll only agree to help you if I get to spend a whole month with you."

She drew in a sharp intake of breath and shivered. "No way in hell is that happening!"

He stepped back a little, shrugged his shoulders, and said in a nonchalant voice, "Well, that's just too bad. I guess there's some more siphoners out there you can get to help you then?" He could hear her grinding her teeth, her eyebrows drawn down in anger.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine."

He leaned closer to her, his index finger on his ear. "Sorry, what was that?"

She snatched him by his ear and yelled, "I said fine!" She roughly let go of his ear, sliding closer to where Alisha was standing, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

"Great, so it's decided!" Alisha had to use false excitement to cover up her nervousness. The tension between those two was ridiculously palpable. She almost felt like she was intruding on them.

Kai snapped his fingers in an eureka moment and walked to a corner of the place to grab a large black suitcase and a duffel bag. When he turned around, he came face to face with Bonnie leering at him. He raised a hand to placate her. "It's just necessities, like a tooth brush, clothes, condoms, etc."

Bonnie blanched, eyeing the suitcase distastefully now, while Alisha was staring intently at her phone to try to avoid their awkward thing. Bonnie rubbed her temples while muttering, "Come on." She pulled out the knife, cut her hand, and began chanting with Alisha. Before her sister could reach out to grab Kai, Bonnie gripped his wrist tightly.

He glanced down at her hand on his wrist. "Bonster, if you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was ask." A cheeky smile was on his face.

She ignored him and a moment later they were engulfed in a bright light.

As soon as they arrived back at Bonnie's house, both Alisha and her phones went off, implying they had a lot of text messages and missed calls. Both sisters groaned in annoyance.

Alisha swore under her breath, "Apparently, there's some Council members at the school." Her eyes widened. "Oh, crap! My parents called four times..."

Bonnie couldn't even respond before Kai was dragging her to the kitchen looking for something to eat. "Wow Bon, when was the last time you went shopping?" He was rapidly going through her cabinets and then the fridge. "Most of this stuff is out of date, that's just unhealthy." He looked at her in disappointment.

She just stared back at him blankly. "Let's just go to the school."

* * *

 

It had only been a hour at the most since Bonnie and Alisha left, and then these people had shown up. Jeremy stared rather irritably at three people in front of him. They were Council members judging from the insignia on their shirts. He just hoped Bonnie or Alisha got his messages.

The one who looked to be the leader spoke up. "Hello, I'm Bradley. We came here to speak to Mr. Saltzman. We will also like a report with what happened down to the last detail." His voice was clipped and straight to the point. He then adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses before rigidly dropping his hands back to his sides.

Jeremy regarded them coolly and said, "Yeah, that's going to take a while and as for Ric, you guys just missed him." He wished Ric would hurry back already; he was annoyed from the earlier events and didn't feel like dealing these people as well.

The cocky-looking redhead interjected, sounding smug with his Australian accent, "Hey look, we get it. You guys without a doubt couldn't handle the situation here." He gestured to the chaos around them, "That's why we were called in. We'll wait for Ric to get here while you scurry off to go write that report for us." He winked and made a shooing motion with his left hand.

Jeremy's eyes narrowed to slits. Bradley clamped a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Yuri, that's enough! Don't be rude, even if the first half of what you said was true."

The brunette-haired woman with them laughed quietly.

Jeremy's lips drew back into a snarl. His shoulders were squared back, but before he could say or do anything he heard a car pull up. All four people turned as Bonnie and Alisha stepped out along with a sour-looking Kai Parker. His mood immediately brighten when he saw the newly installed but now broken vending machine though, poor thing never stood a chance.

"Hey, Jer." Bonnie's eyes darted between each of the Council members, lingering on Yuri's face the longest.  _"What the hell is he doing here? Wait, he's a Council member?! Dammit."_

Yuri's face lit up seeing Bonnie and he casually sauntered over to her. "Hey! I haven't seen you since Barcelona! Those days were so much fun, we should do that again sometime." He winked at her suggestively.

Kai's hand abruptly paused from digging into his bag of sour cream chips and he leveled the guy with a menacing glare. Bonnie chuckled and stepped back to put at least a foot of space between herself and Yuri. "That was a one time weekend fling. Nothing more."

Jeremy looked disgusted, Kai's glare worsened, and Alisha felt a chill go down her spine.  _“If that guy gets any closer to Bonnie, he's gonna become another casualty here.”_  She stepped up beside Bonnie. "Look, wouldn't it be easier to get a report from Tiffany? You know, the admin? We need to make sure the children are okay, and we have a lot of cleaning to do as you can see."

Yuri seemed annoyed at that. "I'm pretty sure you three don't need Bonnie for that." He went to reach for her, but then he grabbed his stomach and doubled over as if he was in pain. His two subordinates swiftly settled into a battle stance, looking between the four of them.

Bonnie's head snapped quickly over to Kai, who was innocently munching on his chips. He arched one eyebrow. "What?" he said in a nonchalant voice. He looked past Bonnie at the Yuri guy hunched over. "He okay over there? Lookin’ kinda green in the face. He should do something about that."

Said guy mumbled something under his breath. Bonnie leaned closer. "Yuri?"

"I said, where's the bathroom!" he yelled.

Alisha stopped gathering up the bodies and pointed down the hall to her left. "Third door on the right."

He darted off in the direction she pointed to. Alisha's eyes met Jeremy's, "I'm not cleaning that up," she said darkly.

"Yeah, that's gonna be Ric's problem," he said, as he dragged another body over to the left hand corner of the room.

Alisha walked to the middle of the area and began chanting. Slowly, the building started to go back to the way it originally looked, and thus made it easier to get to the other bodies. When she was done she looked around slowly. "Eight more to go." She let out a deep sigh.

Bradley adjusted his glasses again, "Do you know when Miss -Tiffany, was it?- when she will be back?"

Jeremy looked up, fuming. "Gee, I don't know! Maybe when her and the rest of the staff are done calming the kids down!"

He flinched slightly. "On second thought, I'll just go look for her myself," he said briskly. He lightly tapped his other subordinate on the shoulder. "Let's go." Together, they walked through the double doors leading to the student dorms.

"You should've been doing that!" Bonnie yelled out to them as she casually walked over to where Kai was, taking one of his bags of chips. Kai looked offended.

"Hey, I got those fair and square!" He started gathering the rest of his bags closer to him as if to protect them from her.

"The machine was broken, Kai. Not to mention you grabbed enough bags, you won't miss one," she replied, a fake polite smile on her face.

The doors flew open and there stood Alaric. "Bonnie!" He sounded relieved to see her. As he strode over to her, his eyes made contact with Kai's.

Kai waved at him with a smirk on his face. "Long time no see almost brother-in-law! How have you and my nieces been?"

To say things got hectic was an understatement. Alaric pulled out a stake and swiftly advanced on Kai. Jeremy kept moving the bodies, ignoring what was happening, but Alisha accidently dropped one in panic, while Bonnie casually moved out of the way. Alaric swung the stake from overhead and Kai jumped back, then Alaric went to do a roundhouse kick but caught air as Kai vamp-sped near the vending machine. Bonnie, of course, was getting her share of entertainment from watching this.

"Hey Ric, come on now - do you really want to kill the one guy who can defeat the person responsible for this?" he questioned as he ducked from an incoming right hook.

"Bonnie can find a way to deal with this without you." He did a thrust kick into Kai's stomach causing him to stumble backwards into the machine, the metal pieces digging into his back. He went to bring the stake down again, but was hit with a motus. It sent him flying into a bookcase on the other side of the room.

Kai looked over at Bonnie, but she was looking at Alisha. A rather pissed-off Alisha. "Like hell she will! We let him out to help us deal with this problem. Magic doesn't work on this lady, her power cancels it out. If you kill him, the only other people we could use would be your daughters. And seeing how hell bent you are on killing him, I guess you have no problem sacrificing your kids, right?"

Alaric groaned and struggled to his feet. "Bonnie always found a way to deal with a threat. She doesn't need him for this." He pointed an accusing finger in Kai's direction.

"I like how you think my sister is going to be the only one dealing with this problem - like your useless little gang always did." She glared daggers at him. She then went back to placing the bodies along with Jeremy.

Alaric briefly assessed her for a minute, then turned his head away in shame and went to help with the bodies.

Kai twisted around trying to check the back of his shirt. "Shoot, I'm going to need another shirt." He looked at Bonnie. "Bon, I need your car keys."

"No," she said and folded her arms over her chest.

"Aw come on you really want me to walk around with a bloody shirt? Or do you prefer me with it off?" He raised his eyebrows and gave her a lewd smile.

She just facepalmed. Jeremy stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans, "Ric, since you're here you can finish this up. Oh, there's also some Council members for you upstairs." He then turned to Bonnie. "The arrow's behind the front desk. I didn't want those guys taking it as evidence before you could use it."

Alisha looked appalled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you talking like you're not sticking around!"

"I'm not. I'm going back to my apartment to sleep," Jeremy said, already halfway to the front door.

Alisha ran over, grabbing his arm pleading. "No, no, I need you on this! Those two can't fight physically to save their souls!" She turned and smiled apologetically at Bonnie. "No offense, sis."

Bonnie waved her off and Kai put his hand on his chest in mock hurt. "I can totally fight!"

She sized him up. "Right, okay dude. You have the build but I can tell you mostly rely on magic."

Kai didn’t even try to put up an argument. “Well it’s not exactly a lie.”

Bonnie leaned back against the broken front desk. "She has a point, Jer. I don't do physical combat and Kai can't fight his way out of a paper bag. You're needed on this. The newly formed Council never comes here, they're mostly sent to areas with extreme problems. The only thing that would interest them would be the shapeshifter, but my intuition is telling me that's not the case. Since they're supposed to be, you know, extinct; they came here for that Ness or whatever her name is woman."

Jeremy just sighed in defeat.

Bonnie turned, walked behind the desk and reached for the arrow. As soon as her hand made contact with it, she winced in pain and clutched her head. Images flashed by rapidly: A battered woman's blood being taken, a man writhing in pain, and an abandoned building. When she came to, she was looking at a worried Alisha and Jeremy hovering over her.

Alisha was holding her hand. "Bon, are you okay? What was that?" Her voice was trembling.

Bonnie nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just my lovely psychic abilities at work." She suddenly stiffened, realizing whose arms she was in. One would've thought she was accidentally burned with how fast she moved away from him. She leered at Kai while getting up, using Jeremy's shoulder as a crutch.

Hurt flashed in his eyes for a split second before vanishing. "Gee, a simple thanks would be nice. Eh nevermind, I'll just let you hit the floor the next time that happens, capiche?" He said.

She just glared at him.

"I think I'm witnessing something I'd rather not see." Jeremy muttered to himself looking away.

Bonnie patted his shoulder. "Thanks for doing this, Jer," she whispered.

"No problem, Bon, you're my friend." He smiled at her.

She glanced around the room, she noticed Ric wasn't there. "Okay, so we should hurry up and perform a locator spell. We don't need the Council following us."

Jeremy raced upstairs to get his equipment. Alisha pulled out a world atlas book and Kai wiped the blood off the arrow, handing the napkin to Bonnie. She chanted a spell to liquify the blood, letting it drip on the book pages, and then Alisha chanted the locator spell.

Kai looked over Alisha's shoulder, his upper lip raised in disgust. "Really? They're in Philly?"

Alisha nodded. "Yup."

Bonnie's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "How did they-"

She and Alisha locked eyes. "The rogue witch," they uttered in unison.

Jeremy came bounding back down the stairs with his backpack. "Ready."

Kai raised his hand. "Question! Are we using magic to get there or are we taking the car? It takes 6 hours to get to Philly, maybe 4 if there's no traffic and how fast we're going. It'll be late when we get there. Sooo..."

Alisha slammed her palm into her fist. "We can use time magic! It's my coven's specialty. I mean, my adoptive parents' at least."

Bonnie looked over at her. "Okay, we'll discuss it in the car."

As soon as they opened the front doors of the school, they saw a car pull up with Abby and a light-skinned woman who looked to be around the same age.

Alisha flinched. "Shit. It's my mom." She hid behind Bonnie.

Kai laughed while putting his junk food in a plastic bag and Jeremy smirked, adjusting his backpack.

The woman was yelling as she got out of the car, her Jamaican accent thick. "Alisha Marie Warren! Why have you not called me or your father, young lady!? Do you know how worried we were?!" Her mom pulled her from behind Bonnie and into a suffocating bear hug. "Thank god you're okay."

"I'm...sorry...mom." Alisha was smacking her mom's back frantically now. "Can't...breathe!" She gasped the words out. Her mom let her go reluctantly. Alisha had her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. Bonnie was patting her back with a grin on her face.

All the anger and worry washed off her face as soon as she laid eyes on Bonnie. "And you must be Bonnie. I'm Zora, Abby has told me so much about you. It's nice to finally meet you." Her voice was gentle.

Bonnie smiled brightly. "Likewise."

She looked over Bonnie's shoulder. "Oh hello, Jeremy."

He waved back, eyeing her car with hope in his eyes.

Zora smiled apologetically. “No food today son.”

You could actually see the moment when Jeremy’s heart broke.

"Zora! It feel like it's been ages since I've last seen you! When your daughter mentioned time magic, I was like, no way, she's still around here? I thought you would've went back to Jamaica." Kai excitedly bounced over to them.

"And you are?" One eyebrow raised in question.

"Ah silly me, the last time you and Abby saw me I looked like a frat boy and not like,” he gestured to himself. “- this. It's me Kai, Kai Parker!" His hands were in his jean pockets and he was looking at Zora and Abby expectantly now.

Abby's eyes widened and her lips thinned into a straight line. Zora became as still as statue. Bonnie gripped her mom's arm. "Don't, unfortunately we need him alive to deal with this crisis," she said through gritted teeth.

Abby stared at Kai pensively. "I thought with the help of my mother, Joshua locked you up in a prison world for good."

"Well, you can thank your daughters for letting me out this time. The first time it was Bon, not intentionally though, then she trapped me in another one, and I got out using your ancestor Qetsiyah's blood. Then Bon-Bon stuck me in another prison world, but of course she came back to see me a day later for some-aahh!" Bonnie slammed one of her wedge boots down on Kai's foot. "Ow! Dammit Bonnie!"

"Your gift for gab will keep us here all day and we have places to be." She pushed him towards her car. "Abby, I'll call you when we get there."

"Your daughter is mean, Abby!"

"Oh mom, we need to perform a time spell. The people we're going after already have a two hour lead on us and it's going to take at least 4 to 5 hours to get to Philly." Alisha said.

"Do you really have to do this?" Zora asked.

"Mom, they're my kids! And I honestly don't know which one she's after so I rather just take her out for good," Alisha replied.

Abby, with her hands on her hips, said, "I'm with Zora on this, let someone else make the sacrifice this time."

"Abby, nobody's being sacrificed, we're just making sure this won't happen again." Bonnie side-eyed her mother now. "Let's get this spell done."

They formed a six person circle. Kai clasped Bonnie's left hand causing her to look at him in contempt, while Alisha held her right. Abby seized Jeremy's right hand and Zora's as well. Zora began chanting with everyone else following suit after hearing the words repeated. The wind gradually slowed down, and time itself stood still. Kai squeezed Bonnie's hand a bit too hard.

She hissed, "Kai! What are you doing?!" She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let go.

"It feels just like the prison world."

"Oh." She forgot that was his biggest fear.

He recovered quickly though. "I call shotgun!" He opened the passenger door of her car before Bonnie could protest. He finally let go of her hand as he settled down into the seat. Jeremy was tossing his backpack in the trunk and getting in the backseat on the driver's side. Kai was mumbling a spell to change his shirt.

Abby put her hands on Bonnie's shoulders. "Please be careful." She looked over at Alisha. "Both of you."

"We will." They headed for the car.

"This spell should give you kids at least 4 hours until everything returns to normal! Oh Ali, just so you know, Chase is working at the restaurant now!" Zora yelled.

Alisha froze. Bonnie stopped and looked at her, "Ali?" She reached out her hand, but Alisha flinched from her.

"I-I'm fine, sorry."

"But you're not fine, Ali."

"I'm just tired is all. Been up all day and that spell is taxing on the body."

Bonnie just stared at her blankly. Alisha was hugging herself now. "Chase is - it's complicated. Just know he was a terrible boyfriend, who really lives up to his name. I don't want to talk about it."

"We'll deal with him when we get back."

Alisha's eyes widened in surprise. "Bon -"

Bonnie put her hand on Alisha's back. "Move it, we got places to be. Shapeshifters, rogue witches, and weird siphoner women to take out."

"I'm so sorry, Bon, you shouldn't even be involved in this. We wound up releasing a guy who you prefer to never see again and I just - you shouldn't have to put up with this."

Bonnie just shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, Kai's not a problem, just a pain in the ass. I just chalk it up to being a Bennett. We unfortunately get caught up in stuff whether we want to or not."

"And wind up being unsung heroes."

"Ha! Truer words have never been spoken. Come on."

They both got in the car and Bonnie started the engine. "Finally! I was about to beep the horn for you guys. By the way Bonbon, I never got around to asking, but what make and model is this car?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "First, stop calling me that, we're not nor will we ever be friends. And it's a 2016 Toyota Camry." She saw Kai pout. She smirked to herself and pulled off, heading for the highway.

* * *

 

"Ali, wake up. Ali, wake up!" Jeremy was shaking her to wake her up, or at least trying to. He gave up after a while.

Kai was humming  _Why Should I Worry_  while moving cars out of the way with magic so they can have a clearer road, much to Bonnie's chagrin. "Kai stop that! There are people in those cars! When the magic wears off, there's going to be car accidents everywhere because of you."

"So you just want to be stuck on the highway behind time-frozen traffic?"

"I was maneuvering around the cars just fine Kai!"

"Riigghhttt. I've seen old people drive faster than you. What I was doing got us here faster."

"Yeah, you would know, seeing as you're old enough to be everyone in this car's dad."

Jeremy snickered. Alisha finally woke up and Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. "About time. We're ten minutes away from Philly."

"Oh, sorry. Bon, make a right at the Island Ave exit."

Jeremy looked at his watch. "Bon, we have twenty minutes before the spell wears off."

"Shit Bonnie, drive! The last thing you want to be is stuck in between cars frozen in time in the middle of a narrow street."

"Which way?"

"Keep going straight!"

Kai stopped eating his chips to grip the oh-shit handle. Jeremy and Alisha threw on their seatbelts. After fifteen minutes, Alisha spoke up. "Pull in this parking lot."

Bonnie pulled in the lot and put her forehead on the steering wheel. Time slowly went back to normal, and the sounds of traffic picked back up.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted. It's time to deal with civilization again," Kai said, back to munching on his chips again.

Bonnie groaned. Alisha took off her seatbelt and leaned over. "Hey Bon, switch with me. I'm pretty well rested and I know my way around here. Take a break."

Alisha opened the door on her side and Bonnie got out of the car. Alisha crawled into the driver's seat and adjusted it to fit her longer legs. The car door slammed close, signaling Bonnie was in the car. "Okay, we are heading downtown. We can get a hotel room."

"In my vision, I saw an abandoned building, it looked like some type of power plant or factory."

"An abandoned power plant or factory?" Alisha stopped at a red light. She banged her head on the steering wheel. "That's-Ugh! At least it's narrowed down somewhat."

Jeremy was searching Google on his phone. "Well, there's 7 different places we have to search then."

Kai was still munching on his chips. "Where's the closest one?"

Jeremy craned his neck to see the street sign. "We're on...56 and Chestnut. The closest is between 22nd and Carpenter."

"South Philly it is then," Alisha said, swerving around a car. "Damn Philly drivers."

* * *

 

Meanwhile in Philly Ness walks along Broad Street, taking in the sights of the Avenue of the Arts near the Kimmel Center. A little after 7:30, she comes to a stop in front of the Academy of Music. A man with golden olive skin and dark green eyes, who was sitting on the steps and chewing gum, stood up to greet her. He had a southern drawl in his voice. "Inessa. I would say it's good to see you, but we both know that's a lie."

She sneered at him. "You just don't like the fact that you're powerless in my presence. Literally."

He spit out his gum on the sidewalk. "Bitch."

In the next second, her hand came across his face, hard. "Watch how you talk to me. Remember Vinny, you are expendable. I can easily find another witch."

His eyes darted downwards, his hand on his right cheek, his lip bleeding. "Sorry."

"You better be happy that I find you useful to me, otherwise you’d end up with the rest of your family. Now, give me an update on things."

He looked directly at her face. "I had to get, um, physical with the woman; broke her leg when she tried to run, but I got more of her blood. The problem is, no matter how much magic I use, I can't find the kid. Those bastards are using some damn powerful blocking spells."

"No matter, send the school his father's ear."

"Can it be his mother's instead?" His eyes were hopeful.

"Whatever. No, you know what, send his ear and a finger of choice from his mother."

"On it!" Vinny says excitedly.

"Make sure they're wide awake when you do it, too."

He makes a gesture signaling he understood while running off. Ness turned, heading towards South street, a smile on her face. There may have been a minor setback, but everything else was going according to plan.

* * *

 

Bonnie was resting her eyes while Kai was busy flipping through radio stations. "Which one is the station for alternative?"

"104.5"

He stared at the radio like it was broken. "What in fresh hell?! Yeah no, I'm hooking up my phone. Where's the aux cord?" He turned in his seat to look at Bonnie.

Her face was void of emotion. "No. You had that grunge shit playing all over your house in 1994, I refuse to go through that again."

He whined, "Bonnie!"

"I said no, Kai!" Her eyes narrowed.

Alisha just turned it to 105.3. "There, it's now on a station that plays old school hip-hop, R&B, and soul. So, you two can quit having a lovers’ tiff."

Jeremy had his headphones in, Bonnie looked all types of offended, while Kai just grinned. "Bonster, I think I like your sister." If Kai wasn't necessary for this little mission, he would be dead from the look on her face. His grin just widened more.

"Turn back around now." Alisha could feel her sister's eyes burning holes into the side of her head. "You and me are having nice long chat when we get to that factory." Alisha slouched down in the seat and continued driving.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived in front of the factory. Everyone got out and Kai let out a low whistle. "This place has seen better days. Reminds me of the places my friends and I used to hang around."

"You had friends?" Jeremy said the disbelief in his voice evident while giving him a sidelong glance.

"More like people I tolerated. Since Papa Parker was involved with real estate, I used to sneak into his office, take some documents and explore whatever building he was working on at the time."

"I doubt you just explored."

"Of course I didn't. We'd usually trash whatever building or house he was supposed to show off to a client the next day. Fun times."

"Wow, you were an ass even back then," Bonnie said sarcastically as she stepped up beside him.

"Aww, thanks for noticing, babe.”

Bonnie shot him a nasty glare at the babe comment. Jeremy went first followed by Bonnie and Alisha with Kai taking up the rear. Jeremy easily breaks the lock holding the chains that were wrapped shoddily around the fence. They walked until they reached one of the beaten down doors. He pushed lightly against it and the door fell away.

Kai's face scrunched up. "I smell blood - not the human kind - and barbecue...burnt barbecue."

Alisha sighed. "I'm hoping it's just homeless people." The sound of non-human feet skitter across the floor, kicking a piece of debris. "But I guess that's too much to ask." A howl rang out and everyone went absolutely still.

"We would end up in a place occupied by werewolves." Jeremy bunched up his headphones and put them in his pocket.

"Okay, so she's definitely not here, unless it's the guy." Kai said.

"He wouldn't be here without her." Bonnie replied.

They turned to leave, but two wolves were blocking the door while a man with pale skin and platinum blonde hair stood in front of them. "So, your little crew think y'all can just barge into my pack's place and not pay a price?" His voice sounded grave.

"Actually, we were just leaving," Bonnie stated matter of factually.

"Since you lot trespassed into my territory, I think not."

"So, I'm guessing negotiation is off the table?"

The guy tapped his chin in thought. "You lot broke my chains and my door."

"Get better security then, it was easy to pick that lock, the chain was rusted beyond repair and well you and your pack did pick an abandoned building." Kai sounded and looked annoyed at the fact that he had to point that out.

They all looked at Kai incredulously. The guy sniffed and then his eyes narrowed. "Vampire." The two wolves beside him growled and stepped forward.

"Seriously? I thought we moved past the vamps vs wolves thing." Kai could feel Bonnie's magic crackling. He licked his lips, her magic was always so intoxicating to experience, whether it be through siphoning or her just using it. She began chanting.

"Lost that right when ya broke in." When they charged forward, her hand went up as she finished the incantation. "Prohibere!"

The three of them came to a grinding halt. "You're a witch?!" He gritted his teeth in frustration from not being able to move his body.

"Yes, I am." She waved her hand to the right and they went flying. "I suggest you not move from that spot until we leave."

The guy grunted in response. They strode out of the dilapidated factory. Alisha turned around to mutter a restoration spell so that the door and gate would be fixed.

Jeremy sighed, trotting alongside Alisha. "Well, that was ten minutes that could've been better spent elsewhere."

"That was hot, Bonnie." Kai said as he leaned against the car, smirking.

She rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Ali, where's that hotel again?"

"Oh, it's at Rittenhouse Square, downtown."

"Okay, here's the deal, we're going there to get rooms so we can form a proper plan. Jeremy, are there anymore factories near there?"

He was swiftly scrolling on his phone. "There's two, one on Beach St and the other's on 9th and Callowhill."

Everybody got in the car. Alisha back in the driver's seat. "Rittenhouse, here we come!"

* * *

 

They were on the expressway now. Jeremy was nodding off in the backseat. Bonnie was checking messages.

"I'm going to need a computer or laptop so I can access the Gemini archives."

Bonnie looked up in confusion. "I thought those were still locked up somewhere in Portland."

"They were, but I got a tech savvy buddy of mine from back in the day to transfer most of the files and books onto some USB cards for me."

"And you didn't kidnap him or a family member to force his hand?" Her voice was deadpan.

"No Bonnie, how rude! He was some nerdy kid I saved from some bullies back in the day. It was a debt being repaid among other things."

"You willing saved a kid with no benefit to yourself whatsoever?" She sounded skeptical.

"I needed to vent frustration from the crap my sister and brother pulled earlier that morning. It was an opportunity that worked in both of our favors."

Alisha glanced over. "What did they do? If you don't mind me asking."

Kai sat in thought before shrugging his shoulders. "If I remember correctly, they took some of my mom's documents for a high profile case, locked Chloe in the basement because she saw them - she was the youngest after the twins, and stuck them in my room under my mattress. When she finally found them, I had to go to school with a bruised eye from getting hit in the face with a belt buckle."

The silence in the car was deafening. Alisha made a turn onto Walnut Street and kept driving straight. "Um - well, your mom sounded lovely."

"Eh, she was just as much as a piece of shit as the rest. Of course, she wound up dying from a poisoning two years later anyway. I did make sure to get those little bastards back though. My sister had went shopping that weekend, so I poured bleach on all her colored clothes. As for my brother, I dowsed the diving board with lotion; Idiot broke his ankle trying to show off."

Bonnie didn’t say anything, she just leaned over to gently shake Jeremy awake. He woke instantly. "We're here."

They got out, Kai grabbed the cooler and his suitcase while tossing Jeremy his backpack. Alisha handed the car keys to the valet. Bonnie was tucking her phone back in her pocket. "Okay, so who's paying?" They all looked at Alisha.

"Fine. I was the one who wanted to come here anyway." As she bounded off to the front desk, Kai was absorbing the place in wonder. The last time he was here - in 1994 that is - the building didn't look like this. The lobby wasn't as grand or as bright. Bonnie and Jeremy sat down on the charcoal colored sofas.

"Jer, I never got to ask, are you sure you're okay on working with Kai?"

"I worked with him before and he got stuff done, so I don't really have a problem with it."

She put her hand up to stop him. "Whoa, hold up - when did you work with Kai?"

"To get you out of 1994." He said it so casually, as if it was nothing.

"I thought Damon did that with help from Lucy."

"Yeah sure, he got the blood and low-key manipulated Kai into helping, but that was it. As soon as Elena wanted to talk about their relationship, it was up to Kai and me. Liv had attacked us and he was dying; he could've easily stopped, but he didn't, he performed the spell again. Thanks to that, I was able to leave the map and open the garage door."

Bonnie's face was blank.  _“That was Kai and Jeremy? I thought that-but Damon said - no! Even if he did that, it changes nothing. He was the reason I was stuck there in the first place... But he in that moment did more for you than even some of your friends ever did.”_

Alisha came back over. "Hey guys, I ordered the 2-bedroom suite with a connecting executive king room."

"I call dibs on the king room!" Kai shouted from the other side of the lobby. The people glanced at him in disbelief and strange inquiry.

"Guess I'm taking the sofa then?" A tired smile formed on Jeremy’s face.

"If it helps it's a sofa bed." Her face shifted to a look of concern and she crouched down. "Bonnie? You okay?"

Bonnie blinked in surprise. "Y-yeah. I'm okay. What floor are we on?"

She was staring at her curiously now. "5th floor, room 513." She handed the keycard to Jeremy. "You guys go on ahead."

Jeremy hesitated for a moment, but when Alisha waved for them to go on, he got on the elevator with Kai. Before the doors closed she saw Kai tilt his head quizzically, gazing at Bonnie. Alisha put a comforting hand on Bonnie's. The woman had a small smile on her face. "I'm good, I just learned some events in the past didn't go the way I thought they did."

"That's what, twice now?"

She let out a sad chuckle. "Go figure."

"More with being a Bennett?"

"No, more like having a terrible best friend."

"Oh, I could've told you that one."

"Hey!"

Alisha put her hands up in surrender. "I'm just pointing it out from an outsider's perspective. Your friends were kinda shitty, sis."

Bonnie sighed. "Let's get to our room, I need to charge my phone."

* * *

 

Bonnie opened the door; their room was nicely furnished with cream colored walls, plush carpet, and windows with white lace curtains showing the park. Jeremy was passed out on the couch, his backpack thrown hazardously on the floor beside him. The adjourning room door was open, with loud grunge music playing. Bonnie went into one of the bedrooms and closed her eyes - when she opened them, her luggage was on the bed. She then hooked her phone up to the iPhone charger.

Alisha came in and plopped down on the bed. "So, what we eating?"

"I'm not hungry." Her stomach growled. "Okay, maybe I am. What's a good place around here to eat? The last time I was here, I didn't stay in this hotel."

"The Cheesecake Factory, in my opinion."

Bonnie assessed her quietly for a minute. "If the food is nasty, I'm ignoring you for the rest of this little trip."

Alisha feigned mock hurt. "How cruel!" She smiled. "All joking aside their food is really good." A little booklet appeared in Alisha's hand. She spread it out on the bed. "I already know what I'm getting, so I'm just waiting on you."

"Hmm." Bonnie silently flipped through the menu. "I'll take a caesar salad andddd stuffed mushrooms."

"Okie dokie!"

"I'll take a grilled rib-eye steak, medium rare, thank you." Kai was casually leaning in the bedroom doorway, dripping wet in only a towel.

Bonnie flinched while Alisha let out a yelp and grabbed her chest in shock. "Dude, make your presence known next time!"

Bonnie frowned at him. "He has a nasty habit of doing that."

"You know me so well." Smug grin on his face. "I suggest you get something to write this down."

"I - Fine." Alisha dug in the drawer on the side of the bed and pulled out a small notepad with a pen. "Go ahead."

"Besides the rib-eye steak," he walked over to the bed, positioning himself next to Bonnie. "I'll have two mushroom burgers, everything on them," he flipped a few pages. "Some parmesan-garlic cheese bread, and a slice of toasted marshmallow s'more cheesecake." His smile changed from smug to genuine.

Alisha stood up. "Let me leave now, because this order is going to take all night. I'll be back sometime soon, I hope." She left the hotel room.

* * *

 

As soon as Alisha was out of earshot Kai grinned at Bonnie. "I got my hands on a laptop by the way."

"Kai." Her voice stern, she put her hands on her hips. "Where did you get a laptop from?"

"I compelled it from the guy in room 514," he said it as if it was something done normally.

"Kai!" she hissed.

"Oh relax, he's watching tv. Though after you see what's on his computer, you might want him thrown under a bus." Kai strode from the bedroom to his room. He turned, making sure Bonnie followed behind. She dragged one of the armchairs over to where Kai was now seated.

She eyed him with disdain. "Are you going to put some clothes on or what?" She immediately regretted those words because Kai - without an ounce of shame - stood up and dropped his towel. He then strode over to the bed where his black sweatpants were and put them on, slowly. Bonnie admitted to herself that he had a nice ass.

He sat back down. "Ready?"

"So help me, if I see something disturbing -"

He quickly cut her off. "Whoa no, I was talking about the Gemini files, not that stuff. I was going to show you that later." There was a lot of folders on the USB card; he clicked on one titled Callista, scrolling down until it read 1872. "Remind me to send Saeed a thank you basket when we're done, his organization skills are to. Die. For. Anyhoo, here it is; it says my ancestor worked with an Erzah Bennett to lock up a shapeshifter in Silver Spring, Maryland."

Bonnie leaned forward, eyes glued to the screen. "Erzah...Bennett? That date, he had to be Emily's younger brother. So he managed to escape to Maryland." She patted his arm. "Keep going."

"Hmm, they didn't get his name, just why they imprisoned him. Apparently, he enjoyed the taste of human flesh a little too much, in and out of form. FYI, this includes children and old people."

Bonnie sat back with her arms folded, in deep thought. "This just tells me the Gemini Coven and my family have been working together for centuries. I want info of every Bennett that worked with your coven."

"Got it. Oh yeah, I meant to show you this." He clicked on some images, and a man and a boy popped up in one, a woman and a little girl in another.

Bonnie was sick to her stomach. "Compel him to turn this into the authorities."

"Nah see, I'm thirsty, so I was thinking I could just feed on him, thus killing him ‘cause those blood bags only do so much, and killing two birds with one stone."

"What the hell, Kai!? No! You can't just go around killing people!"

"Get off your moral high horse! Your friends do it all the time! You really want someone like him to still be around?"

"We don't just kill humans!"

"I'm a vampire - okay half vampire - and that's what we do or did you forget? I need blood and the guy is scum."

Bonnie bit her bottom lip.

"I also found these as I was looking for his wireless mouse." He threw what had to be at least 6 different ID cards on the desk. "As you can see, he has quite a few identities. And there's a mother and child a few doors down in 510. It's a win-win situation, Bonster."

She blanched. She didn't want to kill anyone if she didn't have to, but she couldn't just ignore this obvious threat. She put her head in her hands, her mind in turmoil.

Kai's head inclined to the right. Kai got up and walked to the hotel room door; he opened it as quietly as possible and peeked his head out. The little boy from down the hall was knocking on the man's door holding a toy car in his hand. Kai motioned for Bonnie to come over with urgency. She peeked her head out from under his arm - the child had to be no older than nine. She took a sharp intake of breath.

The boy’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. Bonnie moved Kai aside and stepped out into the hallway. "Hey little guy, what're you doing out here by yourself?"

He jumped due to the unexpected voice and pivoted, facing Bonnie. "The man said I could play with his car collection after showing them to me earlier."

She kept her face in a perfect mask. "I saw the man leave an hour ago." The boy looked crestfallen.

"Do your parents know you're out here?"

"No, my mom's in the shower."

Bonnie thought to herself. She had her hands behind her back, mentally chanting an incantation. A model airplane appeared; she offered it to the kid. "How about you play with this instead?"

His eyes lit up. "Really? I can play with it?"

"You can keep it, I have more."

"Thank you, miss!" He ran back to his hotel room.

Bonnie straightened herself up. She stared at Kai blankly, he had a smirk on his face. "Do it."

He did a mock salute. "On it, boss."

"Hold it, I'm going with you."

He grunted in response. Kai pulled out a keycard and together they snuck into the man's room. He was sitting on his bed watching tv. Her stomach was churning at what she was about to do. She quietly whispered a silence spell over the room and nudged Kai. "Compel him to tell everything."

Kai raised his eyebrows in question. "I want to hear exactly what he did," she said quietly.

Twenty minutes later, Bonnie was bent over a trash bin, hurling. Kai was finishing up his feeding; no one would miss this sick creep. Kai licked his fangs. "Have to admit, his blood tastes pretty good. Nice and healthy, which is just all types of wrong. So which one of us is doing the honors?"

"I'll do it. Help me with the body."

"Don't mind if I do." Together, they dragged the body to the bathroom.

She looked down at the man in disgust. "Phasmatos Incendia." The body burned until it became ash. Kai swept the ashes up and threw them in the trash. "Done."

"I can't believe I just - I need a shower and a drink." She wiped a sweaty hand through her hair.

"Ooh, you should let me join you, to help save the environment and stuff."

"I'd rather bathe in acid."

"Your loss," he said as he turned and opened the door.

* * *

 

An hour and a half later, Alisha arrived with their food. "Hey, I'm back!"

Kai was the only one sitting at the table waiting. "Where's Bonnie and Jeremy?" She sat the food down. He started sifting through the containers until he popped open the one with his burgers. "They're asleep. Okay well, I put Gilbert to sleep, Bonnie's-" He leaned back in the chair. "Tossing and turning."

She rolled her eyes, turned around and came face to face with a peeved Bonnie. Bonnie plopped down in the chair across from Kai. "I can't sleep. Everytime I close my eyes, those images keep flashing in my head."

Alisha looked between the both of them. "Did something happen?"

"Me and Bon Bon teamed up to kill a guy."

"WHAT?!"

Bonnie kicked out her foot, but missed. Immediately, it became a weird game of footsie between them. Alisha glanced at them, bewildered. "So in the span of two hours, you two decide to commit a spontaneous murder?"

"To be fair, the guy was a pedo and planning on going after the kid down the hall," he said before casually taking a bite of his burger.

"Oh? Well, you two did the world a favor then."

Bonnie leaned back in the chair, looking how she felt, exhausted. There was a rustling noise and Jeremy's head popped up. He stretched and then laid back against the couch. "You guys are so loud." He shot up. "Food!"

"Yeah, I got you three smokehouse burgers with fries."

"Thanks!"

Bonnie managed to eat some of her salad, but was poking at her mushrooms. Alisha tapped her shoulder, nodding her head toward the bedroom. The door clicked softly behind them, Alisha was positioned against it. "Get dressed."

Bonnie looked at her confused. "What? Why?"

"You need to blow off some steam and what better way to do that than to go clubbing?"

"Hold up, we have people to find and catch."

Alisha waved her hand in dismissal. "Ness and her little crew are still in the city." She slightly winced at Bonnie's facial expression. "Just call it a gut feeling."

"No. I don't really do clubs anymore."

Alisha pouted. "Aw, come on! It'll be a good way to get you tired."

"Ali, if you want to go just say so, don't use me as an excuse."

"What I want is to go with my big sister. Please, please go with me."

Bonnie flopped down on the bed, glancing at her phone. It read 10:36 pm. "Ugh fine! Stop with the puppy dog eyes already," she groaned.

"Yes! You won't regret it, I promise!" Alisha began digging through Bonnie's clothes. "Let's see what we have to work with."

* * *

 

Two hours later, Alisha was putting the finishing touches on Bonnie's hair. She had it in a wavy half updo hairstyle with a few tendrils of hair cascading down her face. Alisha had picked out everything for her to wear, from the black high close-halter neck blouson mini dress, to the matching pair of black Anne Michelle ankle-strap, open-toe stilettos. The jewelry too - a pair of gold dangle teardrop earrings and a bracelet. She stepped back while motioning for Bonnie to get up and slowly turn in a circle. "I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself."

Bonnie looked at herself in the mirror, a smile on her face. "I dare say I agree."

"Sweet!" Alisha replied happily as she was trying to get her hair up in a high ponytail. She was already dressed with a stylish black sleeveless backless cowl neck top with a tube top underneath, dark denim skinny jeans and a pair of matching black Zara ankle boots.

Bonnie was busy putting her heels on. "So, what's the name of this club?"

"Coda. It's like two blocks down from here. They had some renovations done, so now it can hold like 4000 people," she said in a huff. She was becoming frustrated with trying to get her hair into a proper ponytail.

"Sit down, I'll fix it." A minute later and Alisha's hair was in a perfectly curly high ponytail.

After applying lip gloss (pink for Alisha) and lipstick (nude for Bonnie) they were ready. When they came out Jeremy was sitting on the couch wearing a dark green graphic tee that said ‘ _I ran out of fucks to give’_  and cargo jeans with camo Chucks. "Wow, you two look - wow!" His eyes lingered on Bonnie's legs before meeting her eyes and then looking away sheepishly.

"I know right? She's already super gorgeous, so I only had to do her hair." Alisha was bouncing on her heels. Bonnie blushed. Alisha abruptly stopped. "Oh." Her gaze was on Kai in his outfit. "You clean up nicely, Kai!" He was wearing a gray, short-sleeve button up with black trim, the two top buttons undone, loose fit skinny jeans and white Adidas sneakers. She nudged Bonnie with her elbow, causing her to look directly up at Kai.

Bonnie sucked in a breath. His shirt fit him to the point almost nothing was left to the imagination - not that she needed it because of earlier - he did look good, but she wasn't telling him that. And of course, Kai's gaze was transfixed on her like she was the only other person in the room, his gaze appreciative. There was something about the way Kai looked at her that simultaneously made her skin crawl and tingle. So, she did what she would normally do, knowing it would bother him; she ignored him, turned on her heel, and proceeded to walk out of the the hotel room with everyone following behind.

* * *

 

Their arrival at the club set Bonnie on edge. While the place was simply gorgeous, the club was a melting pot of supernatural people. Faeries, kitsunes, vampires, you name it - it was probably there. As they made their way to the bar, everyone's eyes were on them; okay, moreso on Kai. Some were still dancing while others stopped and stared. It was like they could sense his abnormality. She felt their apprehension and curiosity as most of them were all wondering the same thing: How could he be both a vampire and a witch?

"I just love being the center of attention," Kai sarcastically whispered in her ear. She just walked faster.

"We make quite the little group," Alisha said as she maneuvered around a dancing couple.

"That we do," Jeremy said, squeezing passed two werewolves. Bonnie was already downing a shot as they reached the bar. They all - save for Kai, who got gin - ordered a shot of tequila. The DJ shouted that it was time for the early 2000s hour. Alisha was already heading to the dance floor as  _Gimme the Light_  came on.

Two young women came over to Kai, one blonde and the other a redhead, asking if he wanted to dance. He couldn't get a response in edgewise because Bonnie's glare sent them on their way. Kai casually sipped his drink while looking at her. "Didn't take you for the jealous type."

She snorted, busy nursing her third shot glass. "I did those girls a favor keeping them from you. You're unpredictable and I trust you as far as I can throw you."

"Ouch. So harsh."

Her brows furrowed. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That you nearly died helping Jeremy get the map to me so I could get out of 1994?" Since Jeremy brought it up earlier she thought she might as well mention it.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you - I don't -" She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me that or at least mention that if you died, so would your coven?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "What difference would it have made Bonnie? You told me you would melt my face off if you saw me again. Your hate for me ran that deep. If Damon had told you the truth, would you have even came back for me? If you knew, would you have forgiven me, or at least given me another chance?"

She leveled her gaze at him. "Yes. I would've come back for you if it meant saving countless innocent lives.  _And avoiding what actually wound up happening._ " She thought the last bit to herself. She knocked her third shot back straight. He sat, mulling over his drink. She turned to face him fully. "Just out of curiosity - if Damon had never contacted you, what would you have been doing?"

"Processing my emotions. Weeding out the assholes who locked me up, stripping them of their power, exiling them and then rebuilding the coven with new rules.” He locked eyes with her. “And thinking about you." The look he gave her was smoldering.

She hummed in response, got off the stool and headed for the dance floor. Her thoughts were becoming scrambled, like everything else that happens to her involving him. Those three shots of tequila weren't helping either. Aaliyah's  _Rock The Boat_  started blasting out of the speakers. Hopefully, cutting loose on the dance floor could help get him out of her head.

* * *

 

Vinny sat in his car outside of Barnes and Noble, debating on if he should tell Inessa about Bonnie and her little crew being in the area. On their plane ride back, she had described the two women and the young hunter, but there was no mention of this other dude. As he looked up from his phone, he noticed a Council agent walking through the area. He waited for her or him (he couldn't tell) to turn the corner before getting out of the car. Making up his mind, he headed into the club, handing the bouncer a hundred dollar bill.

Vinny smirked to himself. "It's time to have some fun."

* * *

 

It didn't work; in fact, it somehow made it worse. No matter how far she moved away from him, she could still feel Kai's eyes on her. She was pretty sure he was still sitting down and chasing off anyone dancing near her. Get Low came on.

Kai got up and made his way to floor. Bonnie felt his approach and prepared herself accordingly. She didn't expect another witch to start dancing with her instead. Quite a few people moved away at Kai's approach, but not this other witch. Bonnie had to admit he had balls, too much apparently. His hands were on her thighs, slowly rising higher.

She burned him. She then spun around to face him with a glare. "Don't touch me."

He backed up with his hands raised in surrender, right into Kai. "My bad, man." As soon as the man's eyes landed on him, they widened.

Kai felt the guy's magic itching to the surface. He raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"

The man snarled. "No." He then stalked off.

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well." He stepped behind Bonnie.

She went back to dancing. "Just because I said he couldn't touch me doesn't mean you can, Kai."

He leaned in close without touching her. "Oh Bon, we both know I don't need to touch you. Just being in proximity to each other brings a reaction out of you."

Her breath hitched and her skin started tingling. "Wow, can your ego get any bigger? I can control myself around you just fine."

His eyes were glued to the swaying of her hips. "Prove it then."

She whirled on him, her eyes flashing in anger. "I do not need to prove myself to you," she said through gritted teeth.

"You kind of just did." He gazed at her coolly.

"You have this natural ability to piss people off."

"Dance with me."

"Can you even dance? You probably have two left feet." Though she was being a smartass, her eyes danced with curiosity.

"Only one way to find out." Get Low faded into Get Me Bodied.

"Fine, but you better be able to keep up."

Bonnie gave Kai a half-lidded stare, beckoning him to her. He gripped her forearm and pulled her flush against his body. She spun around, her back facing his front, and began to gyrate her hips. His hips matched her movements perfectly. She bent over still shaking her hips and slowly came back up. Pretty soon, they were starting to get into it, Bonnie put her hand on Kai's neck and he placed his hands on her waist.

Kai had his nose nuzzled in her neck inhaling her warm vanilla, honey, and natural earth scent. He felt his fangs itching to come out. The lights around them began flickering wildly as the two of them danced in sync to the music. The music started to become distorted and sparks started flickering from the lights.

Bonnie felt Kai pull her closer and then a prick on her shoulder. She immediately came out of her trance, spinning to face him. The music slowly went back to normal. When she looked at him, she saw Kai's face was slowly starting to transform. Bonnie quickly glanced at the people dancing around them and then back at Kai. "Seriously? You just tried to bite me."

"Purely by accident. It was excitement induced."

She looked exasperated, "Didn't you drink before we left the hotel?"

Kai looked slightly sheepish. "Yeah but...” He just let the sentence trail off.

She pursed her lips and they stood there in silence, with only the sound of the heavy bass party music playing in the background. Bonnie calmly raised her arm, offering her wrist to him. He gazed at it curiously before letting his eyes meet hers.

“Well, I rather it be me than some innocent person and I prefer to keep you in my sights,” she said.

He arched one bushy eyebrow. “Now, why does this feel familiar? Oh yeah, it’s like that time in the woods. Ever the martyr, always willing to make the sacrifice so no one else has to."

She ignored his statement and urged him on. “Do you want my blood or not Kai?”

He gently took her wrist in his hand. “You sure about this?”

She nodded her head, but then her eyes widened. “Wait Kai, find a secluded area first. I don’t want people having a freak out over blood on the dance floor.”

He smirked. “Ha! Nice MJ reference.” He turned and pulled her with him through the nightclub to a secluded seating area with a divider curtain surrounding them.

* * *

 

"Man, am I tired," Alisha said as she sat down on a stool next to Jeremy.

"That little nap from earlier must've worked wonders. You were everywhere," Jeremy said into his cup.

"So, how come I didn't see you on the dance floor?" Chin in hand, eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh, I was out there with a faerie and an elf, but I decided to sit here and observe instead." He replied, with his eyes searching the area like a hawk.

"See anything of import?"

"Nothing too extreme, but I did see a guy watching Kai's every move after he and Bonnie started dancing together."

"Wait what? Bonnie and Kai?" She waved her hand in dismissal. "Nevermind, that can be discussed later, where's the guy?"

He pointed to a man standing next to the DJ booth. "Over there, with the sandy blonde hair and cup in hand, glaring menacingly at where I'm guessing they are."

"You think he knows Kai?"

"Maybe. Or he could be like everyone else here and doesn't like him on the fact that he's different."

Alisha became oddly somber-looking. "Yeah. Hey bartender, give me a Zombie and Blue Lagoon mixed."

Jeremy looked at her like she was crazy. "Whoa, you're not drinking all that! Hey bartender, split that between two glasses."

The bartender just shrugged her shoulders and went to work. Jeremy was still eyeing the man that was watching Kai. The bartender handed them their drinks.

Alisha patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I know a spell so we won't get drunk. We'll still be able to keep an eye on him."

* * *

 

Kai felt her tense behind him. He turned his head to look at her. “Having second thoughts? Or is it because you're alone with me?”

Bonnie shook her head. “No. I can handle you with little to no problem. I just didn’t think you knew who MJ was. I thought you only listened to that grunge crap.”

He fully turned to face her now. “You wound me, Bonster! I listen to other types of music, I just love that “grunge crap” as you so nicely put it, above all else. That, and my sister Hanna would blast his music all over the house.” He was still holding her wrist and his eyes connected with hers again. “You ready?”

She nodded her head again and braced herself for his fangs to pierce her skin. When they did, she shuddered and let out an involuntary moan. She backed up until her calfs hit one of the couches and she sat down. Kai brought his left leg up so that his knee could rest beside her left leg and he could get better access to her wrist. He bit down even harder for more blood.

Bonnie hissed in pain. “Kai, that’s enough.” She was starting to feel light-headed from the blood loss. She underestimated just how much blood he needed.

He pulled away, his fangs coated in her blood. His eyes were dilated and focusing on her neck, then they gradually went lower until they reached her thighs. He was still hungry. Kai bit his wrist and placed it on her lips.

Bonnie wasn't ready for the onslaught of images that flashed around in her head. A tan skinned little boy with big gray eyes excitedly running up to Bonnie with his report card, Kai following behind him equally as happy with a little girl in his arms. Kai sitting in a meeting with other witch covens as the Praetor of the Gemini Coven with Bonnie at his side, a ring gleaming on her left hand. Her being turned and sired by him as Damon looks on in shock. Every vision had him and her together in it. Bonnie quickly threw his arm away from her and scooted back.

"What the hell was that?!" she yelled. She felt like her mind was spiraling into chaos, seeing into Kai’s mind freaked her out; There was so much going on in there, so much information, things she felt better off not knowing. What scared her the most was that she was at the forefront of his mind; That he wants her mind, body and soul.

"What was what?" He asked in a daze. He was still reeling from drinking Bonnie’s blood. It was as addictive as a drug, so rich and extremely fulfilling. A drug that gave him weird visions of a lame ass british accented dude being too close to Bonnie. That definitely wound up snapping him out of his blood induced haze.

"I saw - I was - We were together, married in one, kids in another!" She scooted further back now.

Kai tensed. "How-Oh, I forgot, you said you're psychic. Those were things I saw when I was in hell."

"I don't see memories Kai, I shouldn't be able to see yours," she said, in an obviously repulsed voice. "I have precognition not-" Her nostrils flared.  _"No, no, no, no! That's not possible! My powers are just advancing, that's it!"_  Grams words trickled through her mind about her finding peace and being sent to Kai's prison world.

His eyes narrowed. "I don't know, Bonnie, I mean didn't you feel my presence when I got out of hell?" He grabbed her leg and pulled her closer to him. "Try as you might to ignore it, there's something between us, Bonster."

She kicked at his hand and he let go with a yelp. He slapped his hand back on her leg quickly siphoning her. His eyes narrowed his mouth twisted in a nasty sneer. "Cut that out."

"Why? Isn't that a thing between us? Hurting each other?" Bonnie replied sneering back at him.

"Pretty much." He gave a nonchalant shoulder shrug. "I admit you're the first person to truly match me blow for blow. Like a weird game of chess."

"That I beat you at, what, three times now?" Her face was smug and she saw his jaw clench.

"Haha, very funny."

"Did you really plan on -" She was cut off abruptly by the arrival of Alisha. She seemed to be out of breath, her face flushed.

"Sorry to interrupt, but the guy you two encountered earlier is beginning to move."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "And this is urgent because?"

"Because after Jeremy followed him outside, he overheard him talking to a woman about following us. And how he didn't expect a fourth person."

"Dammit!" Bonnie jumped up fixing her dress. "Where's Jeremy?"

"Still tracking him." She darted out of the area with Bonnie and Kai on her heels.

* * *

 

They ran into Jeremy outside of the club. "He went down Walnut Street." They took off running.

Bonnie was muttering something under her breath, a few seconds later her heels turned into a pair of black sneakers. Kai looked behind them. "We got company."

Two Council members were following them. Kai recognized one of them as one of the girls who asked him to dance from earlier. Kai chanted an illusion spell to make the girls follow what they thought were them. They came to a stop at Broad Street, the guy on the other side smirking at them. When the last car finally passed, they took off again.

Alisha was panting. "I'm going to strangle him when we catch him."

Kai side-eyed her. "You're pretty violent."

"Comes from years of bullying. You either become withdrawn or get a hair-trigger temper. I got the latter.”

The guy made a sharp turn onto 13th Street, he then made a stop at Market Street turning to face them. He put his hand out, making a portal appear. They came to a screeching halt to avoid accidently going in and ending up in somewhere else. Kai jumped back just as another portal appeared under his feet. The guy was trying to split them up.

Bonnie used magic to upend a newsstand and toss it at the guy, followed by a news kiosk. He barely managed to dodge them. Jeremy had his throwing knives out, flinging one into the guy's shoulder.

"HALT!" It was the two Council members that were chasing them earlier. "By order of the Council, you all are under arrest for attacking a civilian!" One had a crossbow in hand, ready to fire, while the other seemed to be wielding brass knuckles.

"Oh, come on! You two had to see he clearly attacked first!" Kai yelled.

"I won't repeat myself." Said the woman with the crossbow readying herself again. Two more members walked up, one Kai recognized as the guy with glasses from the school.

Kai rolled his eyes and Alisha swore under her breath. Bonnie had the guy they were after locked in a Prohibere spell. Jeremy was slightly turned so he could view both oppositions, he had a throwing knife in one hand with the other one on his sheathed dagger. Ignoring the Council members, Bonnie muttered an Elido spell to break the guy's right leg. The guy managed to utter another chant for a portal spell, causing Kai and Alisha to jump away from each other and leaving Bonnie wide open.

The girl with the crossbow fired. Before it could reach Bonnie, Kai's arm shot out to grab it. He threw it back like a javelin into the girl's left calf, shattering her tibia. Bonnie, with her back still facing them, reached out her arm and hit them with a motus. All of them, save for Bradley, crashed into each other, landing on the ground in a heap, hard. Bradley darted toward them, but ran directly into a barrier placed by Alisha. He staggered on his feet, holding what was probably a broken, or at least fractured, nose.

The guy from the club broke free of Bonnie's spell and was attempting to escape, heading for 12th and Market. Jeremy aimed and flung his knife into the guy's other leg, causing him to collapse ungracefully on the ground.

Bonnie turned to Alisha. "Kai and I are going after him. I want you two to make sure they don't follow before meeting up with us."

Alisha and Jeremy went to protest, but she put her hand up. "I'm trusting this to you two to get as much info out of them as you can." Her voice brook no argument.

Jeremy put his hand on Alisha’s shoulder and nodded. "We’ll get it done."

"Bonnie." Kai tilted his head in the direction of the guy. She took off running with Kai behind her, tackling him just as he made a portal to escape.

* * *

 

They crash landed in an uncomfortable pile in what appeared to be a semi-empty parking lot. Bonnie was sandwiched between Kai and the other guy. "Kai, get off!"

Kai got up reluctantly just to piss her off further. She straightened herself up and looked around. They were in - judging from the signs in Chinese - Chinatown or near the entrance of it.  _“What possible significance did this place have? This has to be a trap,”_  she thought to herself.

"Bonster, check it out." Kai toed the guy onto his back. "Doesn't the guy we were chasing have sandy blonde hair?" He bent down to check his pulse. "This guy has gone to a higher plane of existence. He also didn't have any magic." Kai tapped his chin lightly.  _"He used an illusion spell. Cloaking spells and illusions are a Gemini specialty. Could he be one or did he somehow get access to my grimoires?"_  He made sure to store that info for later.

Bonnie took out her phone. "Wasn't one of the abandoned plants we were looking for around here somewhere?" She turned to face Vine street. "It says we should find the Willow Street Generation Plant if we head this way."

Kai's head snapped to the left, hearing a noise that sounded like something was being uprooted from the ground. He had a few seconds to tackle Bonnie to the ground, narrowly avoiding a No Stopping sign that was thrown at her.

Bonnie heard Kai's voice in her head:  _Her skin is so soft._

She stared up at him with an unreadable expression before they both turned their heads in the direction of more noise. Carlos was standing just outside of the parking lot, casually extracting a short street pole, preparing to toss it at them. Bonnie, still lying under Kai, reached her arm out and chanted another Elido spell, breaking his arm and causing him to drop the pole on his foot. He let out a howl of pain while still clutching his arm and simultaneously reach for his foot. Kai then used a motus to fling him across the street into the window of a hair salon.

"I'm going to hazard a guess that the location you mentioned is the right one."

"I would assume so, now move." She pushed him off of her and quickly scrambled to her feet. She started forward and then let out a shriek as Kai came and chucked her over his shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!"

He lightly patted her thigh. "Nope, I'm faster, have better reflexes, et cetera." They both heard an animalistic growl and saw a cheetah leaping out of the debris. Kai wasted no time hitting it with another motus, then vaulting to the iron fence that separated the casual streets from the highway. He switched to holding Bonnie bridal style, making her cling to him for dear life, then took another leap, landing on the sidewalk gracefully. Her face was still buried in his shoulder with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. It has been a while since she was vamp-sped anywhere.

They heard a few wolf whistles coming from behind them. Two guys were staring at them in amazement. "Yo, you saw that?!" One of them asked, nudging his friend.

"Yeah, that was crazy."

"Man, he landed like an action hero who just finished saving his girl! All he needed was an explosion behind him to complete the image." The two guys walked off, laughing amongst themselves.

Bonnie let out an annoyed grunt. "Put me down now." Kai let her legs go since he was still crouching. She immediately dropped her arms from around his neck and straightened her dress out again. She touched her phone screen so it could light back up and began heading straight for Callowhill street.

Kai was taking in his surroundings, assessing the area. When he tried to make small talk, Bonnie kept shutting him down, so he gave up for a moment. A few minutes passed before she spoke. "Thanks for earlier."

He matched his pace to hers. "Hmm, what was that? It sounded suspiciously like a thank you."

"I'm not repeating myself." She was gazing at her phone screen intensely.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll take what I can get.” He went back to surveying the area. “It's jarring how dilapidated the area becomes the further we walk."

"Hmm." She was texting their location to Jeremy.

Kai sped up so he could walk backwards in front of her. "You're ignoring me again."

She scoffed, "I thought I always did that when it came to you."

"Nah, you normally give me a scathing remark. This is more...like you're trying to avoid me or something." He peered at her questioningly, his head tilted to the left. "Something on your mind?"

"I'm just trying to figure out why you're talking to me like we're friends."

"Right, because that's the problem."

They arrived in front of the building. She put her phone in her sneaker. Ever since the visions she had been debating asking him about the siring. She just threw caution to the wind. "You're right, I did want to ask you something. Did you really plan to sire me to you?"

He smirked. "Yeah, I did. If mostly to prove a point, you being a vampire would force your little friends to rely on themselves for once."

"So, it would've been for my benefit? To see the errors of my friends' ways?" Her eyes narrowed in skepticism.

He laughed. "It would've also been to piss you off. What's worse than being turned into vampire, sired to a man you hate, and losing your magic in the process? What better way to get back at the ever so judgemental Bonnie Bennett?"

She sent him a death glare and watched him reel back as if he was in pain. "What the hell was that?!"

"What was what?" She asked genuinely confused.

"You used something that wasn't magic to hit me." He gazed at her quizzically.

"I -" She stopped immediately upon seeing a portal appear. Carlos and the blonde guy stepped out.

Carlos snarled at the man. "You took forever Vinny. Ness is going to be pissed. And to make the situation worse, this is not even all of them." He gestured to Kai and Bonnie.

Vinny waved his hand in dismissal. "Calm down, I have them right where I want them."

Bonnie and Kai edged closer to each other. Bonnie spoke first. "So, are you going to explain what this is about?"

Vinny's eyes narrowed on Kai maliciously. "Him." His lip curled in disgust. "Gemini scum."

Bonnie looked startled and then side-eyed Kai. "Well damn, Kai, what did you do him?"

"I love how you just assume I did something to him. I don't even know him."

They could practically see the steam coming from Vinny's ears. He gritted his teeth. "My name is Vincent Vitali, your father wiped out my entire coven due to his paranoia."

"Okay and? He's dead. And that still doesn't explain who you are to me."

_**“Ironic how his coven name means life but they're all dead,”**_  Bonnie thought to herself.

Kai smirked at her. _ **"I know right? I wonder what they did do or planned on doing for dear ol' dad to kill the entire coven."**_

_**"Wait, what?!"**_  Bonnie was gaping at Kai in horror.

Kai stared at her with a mixture of perplexity and wonder now. Her face flushed and she turned away from him.  _"No! I cannot be that, not with him of all people!"_ She nervously made eye contact with him again.

He was staring at her intently now.  _ **“That was a rather rude thing to say Bon-Bon.”**_  His eyes widened,  _ **“Oh.”**_

She was able to hear his thoughts as clear as day. That shouldn’t be possible. She’s not a vampire nor was she turning into one. Realization dawned on her as the color drained from her face completely. "Oh god, we're mentally linked."

* * *

 

Watching Jeremy in combat was like viewing art in motion. Alisha stood by holding two members to the ground with a gravity spell. He performed a spinning sweep kick to the girl with the brass knuckles while pulling out his crossbow and smacking the other member that arrived before with Bradley in the face. He then delivered a swift roundhouse kick to the guy's temple, knocking him out and shooting the girl in the leg with his semi-auto crossbow.

"Nuh-uh, I wouldn't get up if I were you. You're under a gravity spell; if you try to move, I can guarantee you, your bones will be crushed."

Jeremy had his crossbow pointed directly at Bradley. "Start talking. Who is the kid she's after and why?"

They were interrupted by a wolf howl. Bradley smirked in triumph even though it was rather short-lived. Alisha reached her hand out and flung the wolf in front of them with a sickening crash. She then began chanting to forcibly turn it back human. It let out a whimper and then a cry of pain in it's human form. Correction: her human form. Her dark messy hair covered her face from their view, though Jeremy could see Alisha’s shoulders tense up.

Bradley looked dismayed. "Please, let me give her my jacket."

"Fine." Alisha released the gravity spell.

He shrugged the long jacket off and handed it to the girl; Okay more like he threw it on her. He then, rather wobbly, stood up. "The woman we're after is named Inessa Novak. She had first joined the brigade three years ago."

"Dude, we don't need a history lesson, make it quick." Jeremy hissed poking Bradley with his crossbow.

He looked annoyed now. "She's after a boy named Kyle Romero. She apparently wants to get back at his family for sacrificing hers in a ritual ten years ago."

Alisha and Jeremy exchanged looks. "And the shapeshifter?"

It was the girl who spoke up now. "We can barely find any records on him. Normally, with people like him, the Gemini coven would've stepped in to deal with it, but after the wedding massacre... well, you know."

"Yeah," Jeremy replied.

They turned to leave, but the girl yelled out. "Alisha! She's anti-magic, not a siphoner."

She waved her hand in acknowledgement. "I got it." She looked at Jeremy. "We're going to have to steal a car. Do you know how to hotwire one?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then let's-"

"Ali!" The young woman was jogging up to them.

Alisha rolled her eyes. "What?" she snapped. Jeremy raised an eyebrow at Alisha’s actions.

"Here." The girl handed her a set of car keys pushing her hair out of her face. "They belong to Brad. It's parked on Clover Street."

Alisha avoided eye contact with her. "Thanks." The girl just gave them a sad smile and headed back over to Bradley.

They took off back towards 14th and Market. As they were running, Jeremy had his phone out. "They're on 9th and Callowhill." They heard the alarm disable on a white Cadillac Sedan.

The pair came to a halt in front of the car. “Isn’t she the same person on your phone’s wallpaper?”

“Don’t.” She looked down at her feet. “Please.”

He looked at her sympathetically. “Consider it dropped. Toss me the keys, I’ll drive this time.”

She slid the keys over to him on the roof of the car. He snatched them up and they got in and drove off.

* * *

 

Bonnie's mounting anger at the attack on the school, dealing with Kai, barely having info on anything, killing an innocent man and now being mentally connected to Kai caused her anger to officially reach its boiling point. A whirlwind started to form around them, picking up all types of debris and cars.

Carlos appeared mildly irritated; Vinny, on the other hand, looked ready to bolt at any moment. He put his hands up as if to placate her. "Now, wait just a minute-"

"NO! I'm tired of this!" she bellowed. Vinny was heaved like a rag doll into the side of the building. She glowered at Carlos' attempt to charge her by sending two cars in his direction. He evaded one, but the other car's front end smacked into his left side, knocking him to the ground violently.

Kai was content with just reveling in Bonnie's destructive force. Being mentally connected to her made it better, it was exhilarating. Of course, he couldn't do that because Carlos was back on his feet again. Kai vamp-sped over, delivering a rib-shattering kick to his stomach and then jumping back to avoid the car Bonnie used to crush him. Carlos managed to roll out of the way in time, but came in contact with Kai's foot again. Kai punted him into the fence this time and once again, he was already back on his feet.

"Tenacious bastard," Kai muttered.

Before Kai could react, Bonnie sent Carlos flying a few yards away, along with a huge amount of debris to keep him occupied. The whirlwind began to calm down as Bonnie walked over to Vinny with Kai in tow.

She stood over him with her arms folded. "Spill."

Vinny chuckled and then started coughing up blood due to a piece of metal pipe stuck in his side. "I'm not telling. Especially not to someone who sides with a Gemini," he snarled.

Bonnie casually tapped it with her foot causing him to let out a pained shriek. Kai crutched down on his hunches. "You're only making this worse for yourself, pal. We just want to know where your boss is."

He tried to spit on Kai, but the siphoner moved his head to the right in time. Kai jammed the pipe in further, then snatched it out. "You know, in my 18 years trapped in the prison world, I had a lot of time on my hands. So out of boredom, I studied a ton of things, and one of those things was human anatomy."

He leaned closer to Vinny. "I know exactly where to stab you without you dying. Or would you prefer to be siphoned?" He was flipping the pipe in his hand, eyeing him coolly. "Your choice."

A loud scream from inside the plant caught them off guard. Vinny let out another laugh, his wound almost closed. "We're going to make you lot suffer!"

Kai grabbed his arm. "Yeah, I don't think so." He siphoned him until he passed out. "That's one problem solved."

"That was a woman's scream."

"It came from the fourth floor."

Kai went to grab her legs. Bonnie facing the building, said, "Don't you dare."

"It's quicker, Bonnie." He beamed at her. "But I mean if you want to storm the place from the first level, be my guest. I'll just be on the fourth level. Probably dealing with the dead body of that poor woman."

She gritted her teeth. "You're just-ugh! I hate you. Hurry up, before I change my mind."

She swung her arms loosely around his neck as he scooped her up into his arms. He re-adjusted her before taking a running leap and landing on the second floor fire-escape stairs. Kai dropped her legs and she quickly let go of him and started up the stairs. It didn't take much to open the door. Once they were in, she then let Kai lead because he could actually see in the dark.

"Good grief they couldn't find a better place to hole up in? Saying this place is a pigsty wouldn't do it justice."

"Yeah." She started coughing. "Ugh, I can literally taste it." Her voice was muffled due to covering her mouth with her hand.

"At least we're on the right floor. Imagine if we had to traverse this place from the first floor." Kai said wandering around another corner.

She just pursed her lips in frustration rather than admit he was right.

_**"Let's just hope she didn't drag the person to another floor."**_  Kai thought with a smirk. He was getting a kick out of being linked with her.

They both came to a stop at that comment though. Bonnie side-eyed him.  _ **"Don't joke like that."**_

_**"Better hurry then."** _

They took off down various corridors, ducking and dodging moss covered pipes and other hazardous contraptions. Kai made a left turn down another hall until they reached a lone door at the end. Instead of opening the door slowly, he used magic to blast it off it's hinges and into the room. Bright light seeped out of the room, illuminating the corridor they were standing in. Stepping inside, they could see a generator had been moved and the floor was done over with new slabs of concrete. In the middle of the room sat a man in a fold up chair with a bloody bandage on his head, passed out. Beside him was Ness, wearing a casual form fitting t-shirt, skinny cargo pants, and combat boots. Next to her feet lied an unconscious woman.

"Hello, Bonnie and her vampire companion."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "It's Kai."

She ignored him. "I should've known you would come out here, Bonnie. You Bennetts with your hero complexes and self-righteous judgment, always playing God. Where's the other two?"

Bonnie chose to keep silent just folding her arms and raising her chin in defiance.

_**"Oooh, so what did you do to her, Bonster?"**_  Kai thought excitedly.

_**"Nothing. I only met her earlier today when she attacked the school."** _

_**"Interesting."**_  His thought voice lacked emotion.

The man in the chair groaned while coming to. He made eye contact with Bonnie, "No. Get out of here. She'll...kill..you...too."

Ness elbowed him in the face. "Shut it, defect."

Kai's eyes narrowed and he inched closer to Bonnie.  _ **"I hear more footsteps approaching."**_

She shifted slightly.  _ **"Damn, she did say she planned ahead.”**_

Ness, wiping her elbow off on the man's shirt, smiled at them. "How about I tell you two a story?"

Bonnie and Kai just looked at her incredulously.

"Anyway," she nudged the unconscious woman with her foot. "Thirteen years ago, a young man and woman meet, both witches. Everything was fine until the wench wants out of her coven. Except well - the coven leader won't let members just up and leave. Now, cut to my family: We were living in Roanoke peacefully, but in isolation because my family's powers weren't exactly well-liked. The young couple, in a bid of desperation to get away from her coven permanently, lured out five of my family members to use them as a ritual sacrifice. They were innocent -"

The guy with the bandage cut her off. "Bullshit! Your family got its kicks off killing witches! They got their just desserts."

Ness' eyes flashed with pure malice. She pulled out a butterfly knife and pressed it to his neck. "You know, I was going to originally kidnap your son and make your family watch as I killed you slowly. But I think these two are good enough." She roughly kicked the woman in her side. "Wake up wench." The woman groaned and then coughed up blood.

The footsteps from earlier grew louder until Bonnie and Kai were surrounded by vampires lead by Carlos and a limping Vinny. She and Kai backed up closer to each other.

Ness was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "So, Jacob Romero or - should I say Bennett-Parker - are there any last words you want to say to your cousin, Bonnie? Or how about you Melissa, anything for your cousin, Malachai?"

Jacob's face held confusion, staring at Bonnie and Kai. Melissa's went through wonder, confusion and after settling on Kai's, shock and realization.

Bonnie's eyes widened while Kai's face had an unreadable expression. "Oh my god," Bonnie uttered in astonishment.


End file.
